File:001135-asteroid_shape_model_(1135)_Colchis.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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 October 1929
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k ɒ l k ɪ s /
- Named after
- Colchis (ancient Kingdom)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 TA · 1936 FJ 1 , 1940 EP · 1954 LL, 1958 FO · A911 MJ, A916 UH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 88.15 yr (32,198 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9744 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3558 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6651 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.35 yr (1,589 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 87.849 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 35.4 / day
- Inclination
- 4.5409°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 350.73°
- Argument of perihelion
- 3.6675°
- Mean diameter
- 45.341 ± 12.31 km , 46.82 ± 0.65 km , 47.07 ± 13.06 km , 49.12 ± 16.46 km , 49.805 ± 0.795 km , 50.50 km (derived) , 50.592 ± 0.953 km , 50.64 ± 1.5 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Colchis
- Followed by
- 1136 Mercedes
- Follows
- 1134 Kepler
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 50.592
- Orbital period
- 1589.684071277138
- Image
- 001135-asteroid shape model (1135) Colchis.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A916 UH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-10-03
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1137057766035201
- orbital inclination
- 4.540767698574919
- periapsis
- 2.362578146742249
- apoapsis
- 2.968784925191844
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.665681535967046
- mean anomaly
- 47.11706724325668
- longitude of ascending node
- 350.5966006589436
- argument of periapsis
- 3.789107479944646
- absolute magnitude
- 10.79
- Commons category
- 1135 Colchis
- albedo
- 0.057
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- rotation period
- 23.467
- time of periapsis
- 2460792.4409686616
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1135 Colchis (/ˈkɒlkɪs/); prov. designation: 1929 TA) is a background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 October 1929, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The X-type asteroid has a rotation period of hours 23.5 and measures approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter. It was named for the ancient Kingdom of Colchis.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1135 Colchis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.