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
- Discovery date
- 10 February 1927
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈzuːziː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1927 CH
- Observation arc
- 88.62 yr (32367 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7604 AU (412.95 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.9765 AU (295.68 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.3685 AU (354.32 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.65 yr (1331.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 188.793 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 13.404 / day
- Inclination
- 5.5391°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 141.483°
- Argument of perihelion
- 13.095°
- Mean radius
- 10.91 ± 0.7 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 4.6222 h (0.19259 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.0707 ± 0.010
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 21.82
- Orbital period
- 1330.95450163546
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1938 ET
- time of discovery or invention
- 1927-02-10
- orbital inclination
- 5.543178691217698
- albedo
- 0.0707
- rotation period
- 4.6222
- absolute magnitude
- 12.74
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1654943198033033
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.367971776197829
- periapsis
- 1.97608589778255
- apoapsis
- 2.759857654613109
- longitude of ascending node
- 141.3564091852708
- argument of periapsis
- 12.76200911671067
- mean anomaly
- 28.80323777424493
- time of periapsis
- 2460894.0116695073
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Article
933 Susi is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
The object 1911 LX discovered 22 April 1911, by H. E. Wood was named 715 Transvaalia. On 23 April 1920, the object 1920 GZ was discovered and named 933 Susi. In 1928 it was realized that these were one and the same object. The name Transvaalia was kept, and the name and number 933 Susi was reused for the object 1927 CH discovered 10 February 1927, by Karl Reinmuth.