665 Sabine

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

W. Lorenz

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

22 July 1908

Pronunciation

German: [ zaːˈbiːnə ]

Alternative designations

1908 DK

Adjectives

Sabinian / s ə ˈ b ɪ n i ə n /

Observation arc

110.08 yr (40208 d)

Aphelion

3.6830 AU (550.97 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6053 AU (389.75 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1442 AU (470.37 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.58 yr (2036.4 d )

Mean anomaly

149.933 °

Mean motion

0° 10 36.444 / day

Inclination

14.740°

Longitude of ascending node

298.436°

Argument of perihelion

318.920°

Mean radius

25.545 ± 1.2 km , 26.355 ± 0.36 km

Mass

(6.98 ± 3.98) × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

666 Desdemona

Follows

664 Judith

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

51.09

Orbital period

2036.428612713908

Image

665Sabine (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0