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
- 8 September 1907
- Alternative designations
- 1907 ZY
- Observation arc
- 108.42 yr (39599 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5799 AU (535.55 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.8028 AU (419.29 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1914 AU (477.43 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.70 yr (2082.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 307.116 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 22.368 / day
- Inclination
- 8.1702°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 5.9035°
- Argument of perihelion
- 118.101°
- Mean radius
- 16.68 ± 0.75 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.2308 h (0.34295 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.1617 ± 0.015
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
642 Clara is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. Discovered by Max Wolf in 1907, it is named after one of the housekeepers in Wolf's household.
References
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q156088” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.