1129 Neujmina

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

P. Parchomenko

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

8 August 1929

Named after

Grigory Neujmin , (Soviet astronomer)

Alternative designations

1929 PH · 1926 AE, A914 WE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos

Observation arc

91.40 yr (33,384 days)

Aphelion

3.2714 AU

Perihelion

2.7734 AU

Semi major axis

3.0224 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.25 yr (1,919 days)

Mean anomaly

204.95 °

Mean motion

0° 11 15.36 / day

Inclination

8.6174°

Longitude of ascending node

269.22°

Argument of perihelion

139.74°

Mean diameter

30.99 ± 7.65 km , 32.57 ± 0.72 km , 34.43 ± 0.79 km , 34.576 ± 0.196 km , 34.76 ± 1.4 km , 34.80 km (derived) , 39.246 ± 0.426 km

Synodic rotation period

5.0844 ± 0.0006 h , 5.089 ± 0.004 h , 7.61 h

via Wikipedia infobox