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. C. Watson
- Discovery date
- 18 October 1875
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ nj uː w ɑː /
- Named after
- Nüwa
- Alternative designations
- A875 UA; 1908 AL;, 2002 JR 70
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 116.94 yr (42714 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3586 AU (502.44 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6084 AU (390.21 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9835 AU (446.33 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.15 yr (1882.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 138.03 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 28.536 / day
- Inclination
- 2.1937°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 206.21°
- Argument of perihelion
- 151.84°
- Dimensions
- 151.13 ± 4.5 km , 146.54 ± 9.15 km
- Mass
- (1.62 ± 0.20) × 10 kg
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
150 Nuwa is a large main-belt asteroid with an orbital period of 5.15 years. It was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer James Craig Watson on 18 October 1875, and named after Nüwa, the Chinese creator goddess. This object is a candidate member of the Hecuba group of asteroids that orbit near the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Based upon the spectrum it is classified as a C-type asteroid, which indicates that it is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous chondritic material and the surface is exceedingly dark.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Catania Astrophysical Observatory during 1992 and 1993 gave a light curve with a period of 8.140 ± 0.005 hours. In 2004, an additional photometric study was performed at Swilken Brae Observatory in St Andrews, Fife, yielding a probable period of 8.1364 ± 0.0008 hours and a brightness variation of 0.26 ± 0.03 in magnitude. A 2011 study from Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico gave a period of 8.1347 ± 0.0001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.17 ± 0.02 magnitude, which is consistent with prior results.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q140120” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.