1226 Golia

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

H. van Gent

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs. , (Leiden Southern Station)

Discovery date

22 April 1930

Named after

Jacobus Golius , (Dutch mathematician)

Alternative designations

1930 HL · 1957 WN

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

87.20 yr (31,851 days)

Aphelion

2.8736 AU

Perihelion

2.2927 AU

Semi major axis

2.5832 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.15 yr (1,516 days)

Mean anomaly

57.385 °

Mean motion

0° 14 14.64 / day

Inclination

9.8470°

Longitude of ascending node

17.486°

Argument of perihelion

139.78°

Dimensions

11.679 ± 0.158 km , 12.179 ± 0.147 km , 15.92 km (derived) , 16.39 ± 1.5 km

Synodic rotation period

4.0910 ± 0.0005 h , 4.097 h

via Wikipedia infobox