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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 26 January 1925
- Named after
- Sergey Belyavsky , (discoverer himself)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 BE · 1949 KC 1 , A912 VN · A914 BB, A917 QB · A923 TA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Themis
- Observation arc
- 91.32 yr (33,353 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7138 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5863 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1501 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.59 yr (2,042 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 196.05 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 34.68 / day
- Inclination
- 0.8006°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.132°
- Argument of perihelion
- 22.886°
- Dimensions
- 39.91 ± 11.13 km , 47.70 km (derived) , 47.82 ± 2.2 km ( IRAS :11) , 49.189 ± 0.666 km , 52.28 ± 0.96 km , 54.368 ± 0.813 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.284 ± 0.002 h , 6.285 ± 0.0035 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Sergey Belyavsky
- Followed by
- 1075 Helina
- Follows
- 1073 Gellivara
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 49.189
- Orbital period
- 2043.187871382457
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Sergey Belyavsky
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A923 TA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1925-01-26
- orbital inclination
- 0.7988529612481707
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1821434208752375
- periapsis
- 2.577213524085349
- apoapsis
- 3.725147036108176
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.151180280096762
- mean anomaly
- 40.63547594323088
- longitude of ascending node
- 38.0329021128881
- argument of periapsis
- 22.49986185683898
- absolute magnitude
- 10.26
- Commons category
- 1074 Beljawskya
- albedo
- 0.073
- rotation period
- 6.284
- time of periapsis
- 2460769.8724677917
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1074 Beljawskya, provisional designation 1925 BE, is a Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 48 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 26 January 1925, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. It was named in honor of its discoverer.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1074 Beljawskya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.