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
- M. F. Wolf , P. Götz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 27 October 1903
- Pronunciation
- German: [ fʁanˈtsɪskaː ]
- Named after
- unknown ( Franziska )
- Alternative designations
- 1903 MV · A924 WH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 112.81 yr (41,205 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3354 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6735 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0044 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.21 yr (1,902 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 291.42 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 21.48 / day
- Inclination
- 10.960°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 34.295°
- Argument of perihelion
- 21.772°
- Dimensions
- 25.261 ± 0.188 km , 26.022 ± 0.267 km , 27.70 ± 0.61 km , 28.61 km (derived) , 28.67 ± 1.2 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 25.261
- Orbital period
- 1902.008988669406
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A924 WH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1903-10-27
- orbital inclination
- 10.95907983729551
- albedo
- 0.147
- rotation period
- 16.507
- absolute magnitude
- 10.63
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1091561208294991
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.004296271296389
- periapsis
- 2.676358944499147
- apoapsis
- 3.332233598093631
- longitude of ascending node
- 34.23652070197511
- argument of periapsis
- 19.58229030780618
- mean anomaly
- 141.3447295082143
- time of periapsis
- 2460253.7251499286
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
520 Franziska, provisional designation 1903 MV, is an Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 27 October 1903, by astronomers Max Wolf and Paul Götz at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The origin of the asteroid's name is unknown.
Orbit and classification