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
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 27 March 1906
- Pronunciation
- / p ɒ ˈ l ɪ k s ɪ n ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1906 TZ
- Observation arc
- 110.05 yr (40197 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4085 AU (509.90 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 3.0083 AU (450.04 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.2084 AU (479.97 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.75 yr (2,099.1 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 355.26 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 17.4 / day
- Inclination
- 17.828°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 23.909°
- Argument of perihelion
- 279.182°
- Mean radius
- 54.535 ± 1.1 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 11.801 h (0.4917 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0937 ± 0.004
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 90.647
- Orbital period
- 2096.850350164862
- Image
- 595Polyxena (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A911 FA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1906-03-27
- orbital inclination
- 17.78642690168843
- Commons category
- 595 Polyxena
- albedo
- 0.145
- rotation period
- 11.801
- absolute magnitude
- 7.96
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0705093187532226
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.206116799393618
- periapsis
- 2.980055688025112
- apoapsis
- 3.432177910762125
- longitude of ascending node
- 23.69239735088988
- argument of periapsis
- 280.2632970439427
- mean anomaly
- 216.9646636315173
- time of periapsis
- 2461833.6213754173
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
595 Polyxena is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. This main belt asteroid was discovered on 27 March 1906 by German astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg observatory. It was named after the youngest daughter of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy during the Trojan War. 595 Polyxena is orbiting at a distance of 3.21 AU from the Sun, with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.06 and a period of 5.75 yr (2,099.1 d). The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 17.8° to the ecliptic.
Light curves generated from photometric data indicate a sidereal rotation period of 11.794162±0.000023 h. Preliminary shape models of the asteroid suggest there's a flat region at the southern pole, perhaps indicating a concave area or an impact crater.