708 Raphaela

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

J. Helffrich

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

3 February 1911

Pronunciation

/ r æ f eɪ ˈ ɛ l ə , - f aɪ -/

Alternative designations

1911 LJ

Observation arc

123.34 yr (45049 d)

Aphelion

2.9024 AU (434.19 Gm )

Perihelion

2.4387 AU (364.82 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6705 AU (399.50 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.36 yr (1594.0 d )

Mean anomaly

9.02998 °

Mean motion

0° 13 33.024 / day

Inclination

3.4910°

Longitude of ascending node

355.202°

Argument of perihelion

197.104°

Earth moid

1.43803 AU (215.126 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.06007 AU (308.182 Gm)

Mean radius

10.715 ± 0.75 km

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

21.43

Orbital period

1593.901490428255

Image

708Raphaela (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0