867 Kovacia

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

J. Palisa

Discovery site

Vienna Obs.

Discovery date

25 February 1917

Named after

Friedrich Kovacs , (Austrian physician)

Alternative designations

A917 DH · 1942 XF, 1958 WA · 1917 BS

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) Hygiea · BG

Observation arc

102.93 yr (37,594 d)

Aphelion

3.4574 AU

Perihelion

2.6751 AU

Semi major axis

3.0663 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.37 yr (1,961 d)

Mean anomaly

113.77 °

Mean motion

0° 11 0.96 / day

Inclination

5.9738°

Longitude of ascending node

46.820°

Argument of perihelion

70.135°

Mean diameter

24.04 ± 2.2 km 24.113 ± 0.439 km 25.02 ± 0.63 km

Mean density

1.4 g/cm (est.)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

868 Lova

Follows

866 Fatme

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

24.113

Orbital period

1965.936902683862

Image

867Kovacia (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0