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
- Wilhelm Lorenz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 28 October 1908
- Pronunciation
- Italian: [ raˈkɛːle ]
- Alternative designations
- 1908 EP
- Observation arc
- 114.81 yr (41936 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4928 AU (522.52 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3488 AU (351.38 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9208 AU (436.95 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.99 yr (1823.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 147.48 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 50.82 / day
- Inclination
- 13.511°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 58.146°
- Argument of perihelion
- 42.025°
- Mean diameter
- 96.171 ± 2.708 km
- Mass
- (1.452 ± 0.709/0.29) × 10 kg
- Mean density
- 3.117 ± 1.522/0.623 g/cm
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 96.171
- Orbital period
- 1826.36076014145
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A908 UK
- time of discovery or invention
- 1908-10-28
- orbital inclination
- 13.51317903327864
- albedo
- 0.206
- rotation period
- 30.982
- absolute magnitude
- 7.43
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1930677831795473
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.924099145358032
- periapsis
- 2.359549805566548
- apoapsis
- 3.488648485149517
- longitude of ascending node
- 58.0697691288449
- argument of periapsis
- 41.14728215111761
- mean anomaly
- 99.16169025088615
- time of periapsis
- 2460497.430500046
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
674 Rachele is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by Wilhelm Lorenz on 28 October 1908 in Heidelberg, and was named by orbit computer Emilio Bianchi after his wife. This is classified as an S-type asteroid, indicating a stony composition.
Measurements made using the adaptive optics system at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a size estimate of 89 km. It has a size ratio of 1.08 between the major and minor axes. By comparison, measurements reported in 1998 from the IRAS observatory give a similar size of 97 km and a ratio of 1.15.