543 Charlotte

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

Paul Götz

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

11 September 1904

Alternative designations

1904 OT

Observation arc

111.56 yr (40747 d)

Aphelion

3.5311 AU (528.25 Gm )

Perihelion

2.5858 AU (386.83 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0585 AU (457.55 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.35 yr (1953.7 d )

Mean anomaly

291.152 °

Mean motion

0° 11 3.372 / day

Inclination

8.4782°

Longitude of ascending node

294.981°

Argument of perihelion

109.558°

Mean radius

17.185 ± 1.3 km

Synodic rotation period

10.718 h (0.4466 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2599 ± 0.044

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

544 Jetta

Follows

542 Susanna

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

45.613

Orbital period

1956.991854034464

Image

543Charlotte (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0