File:001125-asteroid_shape_model_(1125)_China.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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
- Y. C. Chang
- Discovery site
- Purple Mountain Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 October 1957
- Named after
- China (country)
- Alternative designations
- 1957 UN 1 · 1959 EL, 1971 KX · 1974 VM, A909 BE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 108.75 yr (39,722 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.8083 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4452 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1267 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.53 yr (2,019 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 215.01 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 41.88 / day
- Inclination
- 3.0407°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 97.172°
- Argument of perihelion
- 10.745°
- Mean diameter
- 21.86 ± 6.06 km , 23.95 ± 6.03 km , 26.084 ± 0.199 km , 26.513 ± 0.354 km , 26.64 km (calculated) , 30.49 ± 1.97 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.367 ± 0.002 h , 5.45 ± 0.02 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- China
- Followed by
- 1126 Otero
- Follows
- 1124 Stroobantia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 26.084
- Orbital period
- 2020.765541366335
- Image
- 001125-asteroid shape model (1125) China.png
Show 18 more facts
- site of astronomical discovery
- Purple Mountain Observatory
- discoverer or inventor
- Purple Mountain Observatory
- provisional designation
- A909 BE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1957-10-30
- orbital inclination
- 3.04131346756903
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.217355651747999
- periapsis
- 2.448176851539937
- apoapsis
- 3.807990095829769
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.128083473684853
- mean anomaly
- 30.65491546571753
- longitude of ascending node
- 97.13705027123203
- argument of periapsis
- 9.752983217266651
- absolute magnitude
- 11.66
- Commons category
- 1125 China
- albedo
- 0.078
- rotation period
- 5.367
- time of periapsis
- 2460828.426675426
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1125 China (prov. designation: 1957 UN1) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 30 October 1957, by astronomer Zhāng Yùzhé (Y. C. Chang, 张钰哲) at the Chinese Purple Mountain Observatory (紫金山天文台) in Nanjing, and named in honor of the country China. The assumed C-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 5.4 hours and measures approximately 26 kilometers (16 miles) in diameter.
The name and number 1125 China were actually reassigned from another asteroid that had been lost. That asteroid was eventually recovered and given the new designation 3789 Zhongguo, which means "China" in Mandarin. "1125 China" is thus the only permanent designation and name of an asteroid that is ambiguous.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1125 China” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.