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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 August 1921
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ɛˈliːzaː ] , English: / ɪ ˈ l aɪ s ə /
- Named after
- Elisa Reinmuth, (discoverer's mother)
- Alternative designations
- A921 PE · 1959 NB, 1921 JW
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora
- Observation arc
- 98.41 yr (35,943 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7686 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8282 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2984 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.48 yr (1,273 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 136.20 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 58.44 / day
- Inclination
- 5.9626°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 192.64°
- Argument of perihelion
- 125.36°
- Mean diameter
- 10.474 ± 0.208 km 10.6 ± 0.5 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 10.474
- Orbital period
- 1272.323760727617
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A921 PE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1921-08-08
- orbital inclination
- 5.964397412178974
- albedo
- 0.147
- rotation period
- 16.492
- absolute magnitude
- 12.1
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2050697210544911
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.297908900206379
- periapsis
- 1.826677363032424
- apoapsis
- 2.769140437380333
- longitude of ascending node
- 192.617129566586
- argument of periapsis
- 125.2016675650256
- mean anomaly
- 342.2828861149545
- time of periapsis
- 2461063.1164026875
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
956 Elisa (prov. designation: A921 PE or 1921 JW) is a Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1921, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory. The V-type asteroid has a rotation period of 16.5 hours. It was named after Elisa Reinmuth, mother of the discoverer.
Orbit and classification