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
(788) Hohensteina
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 3.123 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.136
- Inclination
- 14.357 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 8.780 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Franz Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- Discovery date
- 28 April 1914
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ h oʊ ə n ˈ s t aɪ n ə /
- Named after
- Hohenstein
- Alternative designations
- 1914 UR
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Hohensteinian
- Observation arc
- 101.75 yr (37166 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.54161 AU (529.817 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.71025 AU (405.448 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.12593 AU (467.632 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.53 yr (2018.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 172.396 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 42.002 / day
- Inclination
- 14.3373°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 177.840°
- Argument of perihelion
- 48.4689°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hohenstein
- Followed by
- 789 Lena
- Follows
- 787 Moskva
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 111.295
- Orbital period
- 2016.262540414474
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Franz Kaiser
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A914 HE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1914-04-28
- orbital inclination
- 14.35556473691551
- Commons category
- 788 Hohensteina
- albedo
- 0.041
- rotation period
- 37.137
- absolute magnitude
- 8.78
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.136357286415714
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.123434740609393
- periapsis
- 2.697531655083326
- apoapsis
- 3.549337826135459
- longitude of ascending node
- 177.6691583385011
- argument of periapsis
- 47.39771410313107
- mean anomaly
- 60.62825613840659
- time of periapsis
- 2460660.937550715
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
788 Hohensteina is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered on 4 April 1914. The discovery was made by Franz Kaiser at Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. It was named for castle Hohenstein, which is located in the Taunus mountains.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “788 Hohensteina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.