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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna
- Discovery date
- 20 June 1917
- Alternative designations
- 1917 CH
- Observation arc
- 98.76 yr (36073 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3490 AU (501.00 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6681 AU (399.14 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0085 AU (450.07 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.22 yr (1906.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 270.962 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 19.932 / day
- Inclination
- 11.361°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 150.966°
- Argument of perihelion
- 211.651°
- Earth moid
- 1.67015 AU (249.851 Gm)
- Jupiter moid
- 2.09064 AU (312.755 Gm)
- Mean radius
- 10.94 ± 1 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 11.8137 h (0.49224 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 877 Walküre
- Follows
- 875 Nymphe
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 22.42
- Orbital period
- 1904.665635563329
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Johann Palisa
- site of astronomical discovery
- Vienna Observatory
- provisional designation
- A917 MB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1917-06-20
- albedo
- 0.153
- rotation period
- 11.817
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 10.94
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1153827203560156
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.007093137681253
- periapsis
- 2.660126551091683
- apoapsis
- 3.354059724270822
- orbital inclination
- 11.35477282699786
- longitude of ascending node
- 150.8383194804343
- argument of periapsis
- 209.89572225208
- mean anomaly
- 194.8830306764386
- time of periapsis
- 2461874.0906036636
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
876 Scott is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
For a long time, its name had been falsely attributed to Robert Falcon Scott. In fact, it was named by the discoverer in grateful memory of Miss E. Scott, who for a long time selflessly directed the relief efforts of the Society of Friends in Vienna (organized by British and American Quakers) and was particularly concerned with improving the situation of members of Austrian universities. The name therefore honors Ms. E. Scott in recognition of her help and support for the members of Austrian universities after World War I.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “876 Scott” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.