(812) Adele

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

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

8 September 1915

Named after

Adele, character in the operetta Die Fledermaus

Alternative designations

A915 RU · A902 UE, 1915 XV

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) Eunomia

Observation arc

104.40 yr (38,132 d)

Aphelion

3.0981 AU

Perihelion

2.2220 AU

Semi major axis

2.6601 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.34 yr (1,585 d)

Mean anomaly

46.769 °

Mean motion

0° 13 37.92 / day

Inclination

13.298°

Longitude of ascending node

7.2582°

Argument of perihelion

353.10°

Mean diameter

12.356 ± 0.111 km 13.57 ± 0.43 km

Synodic rotation period

5.8587 ± 0.0002 h

via Wikipedia infobox