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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 June 1914
- Named after
- Historic city of Ani
- Alternative designations
- A914 MB · 1949 WH, 1964 PO · 1975 XM, 1914 UV
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Meliboea · Bg
- Observation arc
- 104.08 yr (38,017 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7242 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5197 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1219 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.52 yr (2,015 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 33.057 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 43.32 / day
- Inclination
- 16.381°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 129.81°
- Argument of perihelion
- 201.49°
- Dimensions
- 65.7 km × 103.5 km
- Mean diameter
- 97.87 ± 1.15 km 99.799 ± 11.027 km 103.52 ± 1.9 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 116.865
- Orbital period
- 2016.493472609528
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A914 MB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1914-06-29
- orbital inclination
- 16.37655405248473
- albedo
- 0.026
- Commons category
- 791 Ani
- rotation period
- 11.174
- absolute magnitude
- 9.33
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1917496357130357
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.123673230673055
- periapsis
- 2.524710026604936
- apoapsis
- 3.722636434741175
- longitude of ascending node
- 129.7797331867157
- argument of periapsis
- 201.836966090844
- mean anomaly
- 29.59474790467571
- time of periapsis
- 2460834.728844519
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Article
791 Ani (prov. designation: A914 MB or 1914 UV) is a very large asteroid of the Meliboea family, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 29 June 1914, by Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The dark carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.2 hours and measures approximately 65.7 × 103.5 kilometers, with a mean diameter of 100 km (62 mi). It was named after the historic Armenian city of Ani.
Orbit and classification