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
- H. E. Wood
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 21 May 1922
- Named after
- John Franklin Adams , (British astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A922 KF · 1922 MD, 1928 QF · 1938 HG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 91.15 yr (33,291 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7852 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3472 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0662 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.37 yr (1,961 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 35.422 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 0.96 / day
- Inclination
- 13.657°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 299.15°
- Argument of perihelion
- 350.82°
- Mean diameter
- 31.07 ± 0.86 km 32.47 ± 3.0 km 33.227 ± 4.627 km
- Synodic rotation period
- >16 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 983 Gunila
- Follows
- 981 Martina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 33.227
- Orbital period
- 1963.850802270247
- Image
- 000982-asteroid shape model (982) Franklina.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Harry Edwin Wood
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- A922 KF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1922-05-21
- Commons category
- 982 Franklina
- albedo
- 0.184
- rotation period
- 263.5
- absolute magnitude
- 10.05
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2328476589441542
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.069069399614772
- periapsis
- 2.354443774777331
- apoapsis
- 3.783695024452212
- orbital inclination
- 13.64783959325906
- longitude of ascending node
- 299.1351937213336
- argument of periapsis
- 350.7364781490959
- mean anomaly
- 42.30747758990561
- time of periapsis
- 2460769.706739425
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
982 Franklina (prov. designation: A922 KF or 1922 MD) is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 21 May 1922, by South African astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The uncommon A/Ld-type asteroid has a rotation period of at least 16 hours. It was named after British amateur astronomer John Franklin Adams (1843–1912).
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “982 Franklina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.