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
- P. Lowell
- Discovery site
- Lowell Observatory
- Discovery date
- 9 April 1907
- Alternative designations
- 1907 ZD
- Observation arc
- 108.93 yr (39788 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1456 AU (470.58 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4458 AU (365.89 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7957 AU (418.23 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.67 yr (1707.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 8.40127 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 39.06 / day
- Inclination
- 15.7875°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 36.055°
- Argument of perihelion
- 308.965°
- Mean radius
- 14.475 ± 0.45 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.367 h, 7.399 h (0.3083 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.1659 ± 0.010
- Spectral type
- DU:
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 26.636
- Orbital period
- 1707.941394700078
Show 15 more facts
- provisional designation
- A907 GZ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1907-04-09
- orbital inclination
- 15.77626056073159
- apparent magnitude
- 15.55
- rotation period
- 7.396
- albedo
- 0.196
- absolute magnitude
- 10.22
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1230183238666349
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.796295250676038
- periapsis
- 2.45229969590164
- apoapsis
- 3.140290805450436
- longitude of ascending node
- 35.9419982965791
- argument of periapsis
- 308.4463837953459
- mean anomaly
- 5.797996818055073
- time of periapsis
- 2460972.9926700783
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
793 Arizona is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered April 9, 1907 by American businessman Percival Lowell at Flagstaff. It was named for the state of Arizona. The object was independently discovered on April 17, 1907, by J. H. Metcalf at Taunton. This is a main belt asteroid orbiting 2.8 AU from the Sun with a period of 4.675 yr and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.13. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 15.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric observations at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado during the winter of 2007–2008 were used to build a light curve for this asteroid. The asteroid displayed a period of 7.367±0.005 h and a brightness change of 0.25±0.02 in magnitude. It spans a diameter of approximately 29 km and is a candidate D-type asteroid with an unusual spectrum.