Données astronomiques
Soleil
05:52
21:58
Durée du jour
16h 6min (-1min 11s)
Midi solaire
13:55
Crépuscule civil
05:12 — 22:38
Heure dorée
20:58 — 21:58
Lune
Gibbeuse décroissante
Illumination : 74%
Ciel à observer
Prochain rendez-vous céleste : Maximum des Delta Aquarides, le 30 juillet (jusqu'à 25 météores par heure) — dans 25 jours
Image astronomique du jour
Pathfinder on Mars
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.