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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 6 April 1891
- Pronunciation
- / f r ə ˈ t ɜːr n ɪ t æ s /
- Named after
- fraternity
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 125.03 yr (45667 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.97127 AU (444.496 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.35779 AU (352.720 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.66453 AU (398.608 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.35 yr (1,588.7 d) 4.35 yr (1588.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 190.308 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 35.785 / day
- Inclination
- 3.71999°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 356.574°
- Argument of perihelion
- 310.477°
- Dimensions
- 45.32 ± 3.3 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 22.398 h (0.9333 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0595 ± 0.010
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 41.075
- Orbital period
- 1587.497665671046
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A891 GA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1891-04-06
- orbital inclination
- 3.709213992132955
- catalog code
- A914 TE
- albedo
- 0.056
- rotation period
- 22.398
- absolute magnitude
- 10.64
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1165913995134486
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.663236774360791
- periapsis
- 2.352726271602384
- apoapsis
- 2.973747277119199
- longitude of ascending node
- 356.3054988220714
- argument of periapsis
- 311.4080008356783
- mean anomaly
- 239.5603917633352
- time of periapsis
- 2461531.604435917
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
309 Fraternitas is a typical Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 6 April 1891 in Vienna. The asteroid name is Latin for 'fraternity'; it was so named in order to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Maturitätsprüfung Fraternity.
This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.665 AU with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.115 and a period of 4.35 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.72° of the ecliptic. Analysis of the asymmetric bimodal light curve of the asteroid from photometric data collected during 2014 provide a rotation period of 22.398±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.12±0.01 in magnitude.