540 Rosamunde

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

3 August 1904

Pronunciation

German: [ ʁoːzɐˈmʊndə ]

Alternative designations

1904 ON

Observation arc

111.67 yr (40788 d)

Aphelion

2.4178 AU (361.70 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0195 AU (302.11 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2187 AU (331.91 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.30 yr (1207.1 d )

Mean anomaly

85.2863 °

Mean motion

0° 17 53.664 / day

Inclination

5.5831°

Longitude of ascending node

202.174°

Argument of perihelion

337.564°

Mean radius

9.51 ± 1.35 km

Synodic rotation period

9.351 ± 0.001 h (0.389625 ± 4.2 × 10 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2426 ± 0.088

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Rosamunde

Followed by

Q155356

Follows

Q155333

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

19.152

Orbital period

1207.190874934888

Image

540Rosamunde (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0