544 Jetta

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

Pronunciation

German: [ ˈjɛtaː ]

Alternative designations

1904 OU

Observation arc

111.56 yr (40746 d)

Aphelion

2.9864 AU (446.76 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1973 AU (328.71 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5919 AU (387.74 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.17 yr (1524.1 d )

Mean anomaly

5.52510 °

Mean motion

0° 14 10.32 / day

Inclination

8.3704°

Longitude of ascending node

298.324°

Argument of perihelion

343.343°

Mean radius

12.29 ± 1.65 km

Synodic rotation period

7.745 h (0.3227 d )

Geometric albedo

0.3208 ± 0.108

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

545 Messalina

Follows

543 Charlotte

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

27.169

Orbital period

1523.772185174069

Image

544Jetta (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0