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. F. Hartmann
- Discovery site
- La Plata Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 November 1921
- Named after
- Angelica Hartmann, (discoverer's wife)
- Alternative designations
- A921 VB · 1921 KT , 1977 PM 2
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 91.66 yr (33,480 d)
- Aphelion
- 4.0444 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2703 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1574 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.61 yr (2,049 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 162.59 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 32.52 / day
- Inclination
- 21.428°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 41.432°
- Argument of perihelion
- 47.020°
- Mean diameter
- 53.63 ± 1.3 km 60.857 ± 0.198 km 64.11 ± 0.74 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 26.752 ± 0.035 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 60.857
- Orbital period
- 2055.942991468917
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A921 VB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1921-11-04
- orbital inclination
- 21.42331810194972
- albedo
- 0.029
- rotation period
- 26.752
- absolute magnitude
- 10.19
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2766015972283249
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.164281368899593
- periapsis
- 2.289036088182136
- apoapsis
- 4.039526649617051
- longitude of ascending node
- 41.06819290475008
- argument of periapsis
- 47.21319411330686
- mean anomaly
- 153.0609708404481
- time of periapsis
- 2460126.3760270365
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
965 Angelica (prov. designation: A921 VB or 1921 KT), is a large background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 4 November 1921, by astronomer Johannes F. Hartmann at the La Plata Astronomical Observatory in Argentina. The dark X-type asteroid (Xc) with a low TJupiter has a rotation period of 26.8 hours and is likely spherical in shape. It was named after the discoverer's wife, Angelica Hartmann.
Orbit and classification