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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 8 January 1908
- Pronunciation
- / k r ə ˈ s ɛ n ʃ ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1908 CC
- Observation arc
- 106.74 yr (38987 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8075 AU (420.00 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2581 AU (337.81 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5328 AU (378.90 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.03 yr (1472.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 185.507 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 40.272 / day
- Inclination
- 15.205°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 156.981°
- Argument of perihelion
- 106.012°
- Mean radius
- 21.12 ± 0.5 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.9116 h (0.32965 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.2186 ± 0.011
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
660 Crescentia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on January 8, 1908. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1908 CC. Peter Ting points out that the Rev. Joel Metcalf of Taunton (Massachusetts) discovered six asteroids with unexplained names, though listed in Lutz Schmadel's book. Ting used an on-line planetarium website to help with the location of some of the planets, playing back to the night of discovery. He noticed that there was a crescent moon (33%) low in the western sky and wonders if the Rev. Metcalf could have named the asteroid for the Moon. Crescentia would be a very unusual name for a person but not for a phase of the Moon.
Crescentia is a member of the dynamic Maria family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q114710” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.