731 Sorga

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

A. Massinger

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

15 April 1912

Named after

"the heavens" , ( Indonesian language )

Alternative designations

A912 GH · 1940 WP, 1912 OQ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) background

Observation arc

104.24 yr (38,075 d)

Aphelion

3.4090 AU

Perihelion

2.5656 AU

Semi major axis

2.9873 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.16 yr (1,886 d)

Mean anomaly

201.03 °

Mean motion

0° 11 27.24 / day

Inclination

10.689°

Longitude of ascending node

46.136°

Argument of perihelion

288.62°

Mean diameter

34.597 ± 0.409 km 38.93 ± 0.44 km 41.78 ± 2.0 km

Synodic rotation period

8.184 ± 0.005 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

34.597

Orbital period

1883.143194767013

Image

731Sorga (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0