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
- 23 September 1967
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- A916 SH · 1964 BA, 1979 ST · 1916 AE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 103.29 yr (37,725 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5001 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9366 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2183 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.77 yr (2,109 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 1.9258 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 14.52 / day
- Inclination
- 3.6998°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 308.48°
- Argument of perihelion
- 66.972°
- Mean diameter
- 30.418 ± 0.082 km 35.65 ± 2.3 km 36.05 ± 0.91 km
- Synodic rotation period
- undetermined
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 30.418
- Orbital period
- 2109.973050136191
Show 13 more facts
- provisional designation
- A916 SH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-09-23
- orbital inclination
- 3.698954698400794
- albedo
- 0.025
- absolute magnitude
- 11.55
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0875299325866466
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.219479427254631
- periapsis
- 2.937678610022938
- apoapsis
- 3.501280244486324
- longitude of ascending node
- 308.4344755975895
- argument of periapsis
- 68.12892370051722
- mean anomaly
- 341.7761030429018
- time of periapsis
- 2461107.310920689
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
835 Olivia (prov. designation: A916 SH or 1916 AE) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 23 September 1916. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid measures approximately 35 kilometers (22 miles) in diameter, and is one of few low-numbered asteroids with an undetermined rotation period. Any reference to the origin of the asteroid's name is unknown.
Orbit and classification