837 Schwarzschilda

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

M. F. Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

23 September 1916

Named after

Karl Schwarzschild

Alternative designations

1916 AG · 1951 TB, 1965 VJ

Minor planet category

main-belt

Observation arc

92.59 yr (33820 d)

Aphelion

2.3926 AU (357.93 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2035 AU (329.64 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.2981 AU (343.79 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.48 yr (1272.4 d )

Mean anomaly

221.45 °

Mean motion

0° 16 58.512 / day

Inclination

6.7371°

Longitude of ascending node

200.05°

Argument of perihelion

173.33°

Earth moid

1.20264 AU (179.912 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.75445 AU (412.060 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Karl Schwarzschild

Followed by

838 Seraphina

Follows

836 Jole

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

5.968

Orbital period

1273.135268049047

Image

000837-asteroid shape model (837) Schwarzschilda.png

via Wikidata · CC0