64 Angelina

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

Ernst Wilhelm Tempel

Discovery date

March 4, 1861

Pronunciation

/ ˌ æ n dʒ ə ˈ l iː n ə / AN -jə- LEE -nə

Minor planet category

Main belt

Adjectives

Angelinian ( / ˌ æ n dʒ ə ˈ l ɪ n i ə n / AN -jə- LIN -nee-ən )

Aphelion

451.375 million km (3.017 AU )

Perihelion

351.784 million km (2.352 AU)

Semi major axis

401.580 million km (2.684 AU)

Orbital period sidereal

1606.452 d (4.40 yr )

Mean anomaly

107.758°

Inclination

1.308°

Longitude of ascending node

309.285°

Argument of perihelion

179.641°

Dimensions

48 × 53 km , 52 ± 10 km , 60 × 53 × 45 km

Mass

1.5 × 10 kg (assumed)

Synodic rotation period

8.752 hr (0.365 d)

Geometric albedo

0.28 , 0.483 ( NEOWISE )

Spectral type

E

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

65 Cybele

Follows

63 Ausonia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

58.292

Mass

150

Orbital period

1603.338807032213

Image

64Angelina (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0