In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 10 inbound references to Q147039, and connects out to asteroid belt, Minor Planet Center and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.
It is catalogued under topics including Astronomical objects discovered in 1973, Background asteroids and Discoveries by Paul Wild (Swiss astronomer).
Vinony links it to 29 Wikipedia language editions.
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
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 7.78
- Orbital period
- 1229.491871878199
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1978 VT13
- time of discovery or invention
- 1973-03-05
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1798261405177621
- orbital inclination
- 8.554979325156996
- periapsis
- 1.842146138738464
- apoapsis
- 2.649940794881636
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.24604346681005
- mean anomaly
- 307.8558269827896
- longitude of ascending node
- 18.98308928865454
- argument of periapsis
- 64.17219755968121
- absolute magnitude
- 12.69
- albedo
- 0.22
- rotation period
- 6.249
- time of periapsis
- 2461178.585658029
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0