File:847Agnia_(Lightcurve_Inversion).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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
- G. N. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeis
- Discovery date
- 2 September 1915
- Alternative designations
- 1915 XX
- Observation arc
- 109.53 yr (40006 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0472 AU (455.85 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5158 AU (376.36 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7815 AU (416.11 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.64 yr (1694.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 208.04 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 44.892 / day
- Inclination
- 2.4817°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 270.935°
- Argument of perihelion
- 130.341°
- Earth moid
- 1.52345 AU (227.905 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 2.31009 AU (345.585 Gm)
- Mean radius
- 14.02 ± 0.85 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 14.827 h (0.6178 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157409
- Follows
- Q157398
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 24.931
- Orbital period
- 1695.826101389475
- Image
- 847Agnia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A915 RP
- time of discovery or invention
- 1915-09-02
- Commons category
- 847 Agnia
- albedo
- 0.152
- rotation period
- 14.827
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 10.1
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09415816329819482
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.783055875182125
- periapsis
- 2.521008445618726
- apoapsis
- 3.045103304745524
- orbital inclination
- 2.4813190324436
- longitude of ascending node
- 270.689129335822
- argument of periapsis
- 128.7400691446227
- mean anomaly
- 211.937628593527
- time of periapsis
- 2461697.966761291
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
847 Agnia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It is approximately 28 kilometers in diameter. The orbit of 847 Agnia has a semimajor axis of 2.78 AU and a low eccentricity of 0.096, carrying it from 2.52 to 3.05 AU away from the Sun with an orbital period of 4.64 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.48° relative to the plane of the ecliptic.
The spectrum of this object indicates that it is an S-type asteroid with both low and high calcium forms of pyroxene on the surface, along with less than 20% olivine. The high-calcium form of pyroxene forms 40% or more of the total pyroxene present, indicating a history of igneous rock deposits. This suggests that the asteroid underwent differentiation by melting, creating a surface of basalt rock.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “847 Agnia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.