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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
- 22 July 1917
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ θ iː n iː /
- Named after
- Goddess Athena , ( Greek mythology )
- Alternative designations
- A917 OD · 1917 CL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Adjectives
- Athenian / ə ˈ θ iː n i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 102.53 yr (37,449 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1510 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0764 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6137 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.23 yr (1,543 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 121.30 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 59.52 / day
- Inclination
- 14.191°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 277.03°
- Argument of perihelion
- 41.313°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Athena
- Followed by
- 882 Swetlana
- Follows
- Q157599
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 12.153
- Orbital period
- 1540.696945226231
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A917 OD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1917-07-22
- orbital inclination
- 14.21009218783918
- Commons category
- 881 Athene
- albedo
- 0.237
- rotation period
- 13.895
- absolute magnitude
- 11.91
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2078195564045824
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.610633238137103
- periapsis
- 2.068092596652392
- apoapsis
- 3.153173879621814
- longitude of ascending node
- 276.9464083935663
- argument of periapsis
- 41.40165371477013
- mean anomaly
- 227.9190190816992
- time of periapsis
- 2461565.7687883982
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
881 Athene (prov. designation: A917 OD or 1917 CL) is a stony background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 22 July 1917, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The likely elongated S/L-type asteroid has a rotation period of 13.9 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology. According to Astrophysicist Rayme Traub at JHU APL NASA, Europa Clipper will make a pass by Athene in 2027 after passing Earth on its way to Jupiter. Europa Clipper will test its sensors on Athene in preparation for Europa in 2030.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “881 Athene” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.