File:55Pandora_(Lightcurve_Inversion).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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
- George Mary Searle
- Discovery site
- Albany, New York
- Discovery date
- September 10, 1858
- Pronunciation
- / p æ n ˈ d ɔːr ə /
- Named after
- Pandora
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Pandorian / p æ n ˈ d ɔːr i ə n /
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Aphelion
- 3.158 AU (472.4 Gm)
- Perihelion
- 2.358 AU (352.8 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.758 AU (412.6 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.58 yr (1,673 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 114.416°
- Inclination
- 7.176°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 10.287°
- Argument of perihelion
- 4.996°
- Dimensions
- 84.8 ± 2.5 km
- Mass
- 3.1 × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
55 Pandora is a fairly large and relatively bright asteroid in the asteroid belt. Pandora was discovered by American astronomer and Catholic priest George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858, from the Dudley Observatory near Albany, New York. It was his only asteroid discovery.
It is named after Pandora, the first woman in Greek mythology, who unwisely opened a box that released evil into the world. The name was apparently chosen by Blandina Dudley, widow of the founder of the Dudley Observatory, who had been involved in an acrimonious dispute with the director of the observatory, astronomer B. A. Gould. Gould felt that the name had an "apt significance". The asteroid shares its name with Pandora, a moon of Saturn.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “55 Pandora” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.