816 Juliana

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

(816) Juliana

Orbit class

Main-belt

Semi-major axis

3.006 AU

Eccentricity

0.104

Inclination

14.324 °

Absolute magnitude

10.480 H

via Minor Planet Center

Key facts

Discovered by

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

8 February 1916

Alternative designations

1916 YV

Observation arc

100.18 yr (36592 d)

Aphelion

3.3307 AU (498.27 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6721 AU (399.74 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.0014 AU (449.00 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.20 yr (1899.2 d )

Mean anomaly

104.02 °

Mean motion

0° 11 22.38 / day

Inclination

14.330°

Longitude of ascending node

127.863°

Argument of perihelion

21.017°

Mean radius

29.925 ± 0.6 km

Synodic rotation period

10.58 h (0.441 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0311 ± 0.001

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

817 Annika

Follows

815 Coppelia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

50.745

Orbital period

1902.837756672257

Image

816Juliana (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0