Image by Natalia_Kollegova on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
Small body data
(783) Nora
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.342 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.231
- Inclination
- 9.342 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 11.110 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 March 1914
- Named after
- Character of Nora Helmer in the play A Doll's House , (By poet Henrik Ibsen )
- Alternative designations
- A914 FB · A911 QG, 1914 UL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 108.44 yr (39,607 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8811 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8046 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3429 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.59 yr (1,310 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 136.94 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 29.28 / day
- Inclination
- 9.3410°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 142.09°
- Argument of perihelion
- 154.70°
- Mean diameter
- 38.719 ± 0.105 km 39.58 ± 0.62 km 40.02 ± 0.8 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 55.53 ± 0.08 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 784 Pickeringia
- Follows
- 782 Montefiore
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 38.719
- Orbital period
- 1308.95243910006
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Vienna Observatory
- provisional designation
- A914 FB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1914-03-18
- orbital inclination
- 9.341940022506247
- Commons category
- 783 Nora
- albedo
- 0.034
- rotation period
- 55.53
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 11.11
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2309632583521689
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.341802650594027
- periapsis
- 1.800932279995085
- apoapsis
- 2.88267302119297
- longitude of ascending node
- 142.0120233890006
- argument of periapsis
- 154.6832097847147
- mean anomaly
- 326.8691756177822
- time of periapsis
- 2461120.9629816236
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
783 Nora (prov. designation: A914 FB or 1914 UL) is a dark background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory on 18 March 1914. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a longer-than average rotation period of 55.5 hours and measures approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. It was likely named after Nora Helmer, principal character in the play A Doll's House by Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “783 Nora” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.