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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 February 1916
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ n ɪ k ə / German: [ ˈanikaː ]
- Named after
- a girl named "Anika"
- Alternative designations
- A916 · CD 1916 YW
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background · Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 103.99 yr (37,982 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0570 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1231 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5900 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.17 yr (1,523 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 61.065 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 11.4 / day
- Inclination
- 11.336°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 125.47°
- Argument of perihelion
- 285.18°
- Dimensions
- 22.0 km × 22.0 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 22.891
- Orbital period
- 1522.074851086882
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A916 CD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-02-06
- orbital inclination
- 11.33532655824192
- albedo
- 0.187
- rotation period
- 10.56
- absolute magnitude
- 10.66
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1804654790560167
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.589554499661569
- periapsis
- 2.12222930633848
- apoapsis
- 3.056879692984658
- longitude of ascending node
- 125.4125798299868
- argument of periapsis
- 284.8405454375707
- mean anomaly
- 174.5746639502961
- time of periapsis
- 2460262.400817679
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
817 Annika (prov. designation: A916 CD or 1916 YW) is a background asteroid in the region of the Eunomia family, located in the central portion of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 6 February 1916, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The stony S-type asteroid (Sl) has a rotation period of 10.56 hours and measures approximately 23 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter .
Orbit and classification