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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 April 1916
- Named after
- Simon Newcomb , ( United States Naval Observatory )
- Alternative designations
- A916 GP · 1935 SJ 1 , 1938 KB · 1916 ZP
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , background
- Observation arc
- 103.77 yr (37,902 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7845 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9403 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3624 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.63 yr (1,326 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 211.62 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 17.04 / day
- Inclination
- 10.881°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 17.118°
- Argument of perihelion
- 233.98°
- Mean diameter
- 10.97 ± 0.28 km 12.392 ± 0.088 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 3.003 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 12.392
- Orbital period
- 1325.30887326758
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A916 GP
- time of discovery or invention
- 1916-04-03
- orbital inclination
- 10.87841975134722
- albedo
- 0.219
- rotation period
- 3.003
- absolute magnitude
- 11.73
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1807627760468832
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.361270741878649
- periapsis
- 1.934440887578381
- apoapsis
- 2.788100596178918
- longitude of ascending node
- 17.07038893748998
- argument of periapsis
- 234.2524838946746
- mean anomaly
- 34.36238798784454
- time of periapsis
- 2460873.9978397028
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
855 Newcombia (prov. designation: A916 GP or 1916 ZP) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 April 1916, by astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The S-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after Canadian–American astronomer Simon Newcomb (1835–1909).
Orbit and classification