Image by Nel_Botha on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
Small body data
(862) Franzia
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.802 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.083
- Inclination
- 13.897 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 9.900 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 January 1917
- Named after
- Franz Wolf, (son of the discoverer)
- Alternative designations
- A917 BG · 1948 TT 1 , 1949 YT · A903 BA, 1917 BF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 117.04 yr (42,749 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0345 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5732 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8038 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.70 yr (1,715 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 53.871 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 35.64 / day
- Inclination
- 13.887°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 300.01°
- Argument of perihelion
- 120.97°
- Mean diameter
- 27.033 ± 0.847 km 27.26 ± 1.4 km 28.59 ± 0.91 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.5236 ± 0.0006 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 863 Benkoela
- Follows
- 861 Aïda
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 27.033
- Orbital period
- 1713.234888698812
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A917 BG
- time of discovery or invention
- 1917-01-28
- orbital inclination
- 13.89686774418534
- Commons category
- 862 Franzia
- albedo
- 0.291
- rotation period
- 7.523
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.92
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.08289698871690258
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.802070053223956
- periapsis
- 2.569786883637879
- apoapsis
- 3.034353222810033
- longitude of ascending node
- 299.8941259482126
- argument of periapsis
- 119.3135303892182
- mean anomaly
- 115.6412375696162
- time of periapsis
- 2460450.1649922873
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
862 Franzia (prov. designation: A917 BG or 1917 BF) is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 28 January 1917. The common S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.5 hours and measures approximately 28 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter. It was named after the discoverer's son, Franz Wolf.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “862 Franzia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.