597 Bandusia

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

16 April 1906

Pronunciation

/ b æ n dj uː z i ə /

Alternative designations

1906 UB

Observation arc

99.42 yr (36314 d)

Aphelion

3.0584 AU (457.53 Gm )

Perihelion

2.2845 AU (341.76 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.6714 AU (399.64 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.37 yr (1594.8 d )

Mean anomaly

337.296 °

Mean motion

0° 13 32.628 / day

Inclination

12.804°

Longitude of ascending node

36.541°

Argument of perihelion

307.653°

Mean radius

18.03 ± 1.75 km

Synodic rotation period

15.340 h (0.6392 d )

Geometric albedo

0.2361 ± 0.053

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

598 Octavia

Follows

596 Scheila

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

36.06

Orbital period

1595.127564535519

via Wikidata · CC0