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
- Paul Götz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 14 October 1904
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k r ɛ s ɪ d ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1904 PC
- Observation arc
- 111.50 yr (40725 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7051 AU (404.68 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8592 AU (278.13 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2822 AU (341.41 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.45 yr (1,259.3 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 128.11 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 9.168 / day
- Inclination
- 3.8722°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 108.436°
- Argument of perihelion
- 320.351°
- Dimensions
- 14.0 ± 1.9 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 11.9404 h (0.49752 d )
- Spectral type
- S
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 14.008
- Orbital period
- 1259.593796638801
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A904 TF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1904-10-14
- albedo
- 0.282
- rotation period
- 11.93
- absolute magnitude
- 11.36
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1847335472995925
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.282555734879836
- periapsis
- 1.860891117066455
- apoapsis
- 2.704220352693216
- orbital inclination
- 3.871749871587949
- longitude of ascending node
- 108.3936585702317
- argument of periapsis
- 320.4408146020011
- mean anomaly
- 20.01274459480608
- time of periapsis
- 2460930.477975152
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
548 Kressida is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. This object was discovered by German astronomer Paul Götz in 1904. It is named after the theatrical character Cressida. This stony S-type asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 2.28 AU from the Sun, with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.185 and a period of 3.45 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.87° to the ecliptic.
Photometric observations of this asteroid from 2021 were used to produce a light curve showing a rotation period of 11.930±0.017 h with a brightness amplitude of 0.44±0.02 in magnitude.