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. H. Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Winchester Obs.
- Discovery date
- 16 November 1912
- Named after
- Harvard University , ( Cambridge, Massachusetts )
- Alternative designations
- A912 WC · 1937 FC, 1947 HB · 1912 PZ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 106.85 yr (39,027 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.5653 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8382 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2018 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.27 yr (1,193 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 28.744 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 18 6.12 / day
- Inclination
- 4.3767°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 135.91°
- Argument of perihelion
- 200.51°
- Mean diameter
- 16.66 ± 0.6 km 17.111 ± 0.125 km 17.92 ± 0.27 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.7 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Harvard University
- Followed by
- Q156840
- Follows
- Q156826
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 17.111
- Orbital period
- 1193.287095499989
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- provisional designation
- A912 WC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1912-11-16
- orbital inclination
- 4.377395849520174
- site of astronomical discovery
- Winchester
- albedo
- 0.133
- rotation period
- 6.742
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 11.4
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1657778978412769
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.201731443861271
- periapsis
- 1.83673303348691
- apoapsis
- 2.566729854235632
- longitude of ascending node
- 135.8601645160096
- argument of periapsis
- 200.5384753248177
- mean anomaly
- 272.0082528792066
- time of periapsis
- 2461292.165045416
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
736 Harvard (prov. designation: A912 WC or 1912 PZ) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 16 November 1912, by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf at the Winchester Observatory (799). The bright S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 6.7 hours. It was named after Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q114631” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.