693 Zerbinetta

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

21 September 1909

Alternative designations

1909 HN , 1949 QB , 1949 SW1 , 1952 DR3

Observation arc

38866 days (106.41 yr)

Aphelion

3.0369 AU (454.31 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8506 AU (426.44 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.9438 AU (440.39 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.05 yr (1844.8 d )

Mean anomaly

101.77 °

Mean motion

0° 11 42.504 / day

Inclination

14.195°

Longitude of ascending node

351.875°

Argument of perihelion

288.790°

Mean radius

33.83 ± 0.65 km

Synodic rotation period

11.475 h (0.4781 d )

Geometric albedo

0.0683 ± 0.003

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

694 Ekard

Follows

692 Hippodamia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

82.114

Orbital period

1844.206191167999

via Wikidata · CC0