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
- P. Jensen , K. Augustesen
- Discovery site
- Brorfelde Obs.
- Discovery date
- 23 April 1985
- Named after
- Karen Blixen
- Alternative designations
- 1985 HB · 1943 GP, 1950 RT · 1953 CJ, 1962 YF · 1970 KB, 1972 XL 1 · 1976 QW 1 , 1979 DH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Eos
- Observation arc
- 74.16 yr (27,087 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1569 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8585 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0077 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.22 yr (1,905 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 116.45 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 20.4 / day
- Inclination
- 11.573°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 109.09°
- Argument of perihelion
- 49.585°
- Dimensions
- 22.658 ± 0.214 , 23.5 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.456 ± 0.003
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 22.658
- Orbital period
- 1909.971186479672
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1985 HB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1985-04-23
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.04655577888699795
- absolute magnitude
- 11.04
- orbital inclination
- 11.58274198745737
- periapsis
- 2.872417407310766
- apoapsis
- 3.152932253852743
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.012674830581755
- mean anomaly
- 327.1236819723082
- longitude of ascending node
- 109.002931794759
- argument of periapsis
- 45.35500544899145
- albedo
- 0.204
- rotation period
- 6.456
- time of periapsis
- 2461174.924500418
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
3318 Blixen, provisionally designated 1985 HB, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Danish astronomers Poul Jensen and Karl Augustesen at Brorfelde Observatory on 23 April 1985.
Blixen is a member of the Eos family (606), the largest asteroid family in the outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.9–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,905 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.05 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.