832 Karin

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

20 September 1916

Alternative designations

1916 AB

Minor planet category

Main belt Karin family

Observation arc

94.56 yr (34538 d)

Aphelion

3.0940 AU (462.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.6359 AU (394.33 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.8649 AU (428.58 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.85 yr (1771.2 d )

Mean anomaly

200.354 °

Mean motion

0° 12 11.7 / day

Inclination

1.0046°

Longitude of ascending node

253.945°

Argument of perihelion

122.154°

Synodic rotation period

18.35 h (0.765 d )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

15.812

Orbital period

1768.950143109549

Image

832Karin (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0