Image by Carlosgmenezo on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 7 May 1932
- Named after
- Pamela Jackson , (discoverer's daughter)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 JE · 1929 XD, 1934 VL · 1951 AN, 1954 JO
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 85.66 yr (31,287 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2409 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9512 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0960 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.45 yr (1,990 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 165.56 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 51.24 / day
- Inclination
- 13.286°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 245.68°
- Argument of perihelion
- 56.586°
- Dimensions
- 66.11 ± 23.05 km , 69.883 ± 0.420 km , 69.991 ± 1.389 km , 70.06 km (derived) , 70.07 ± 5.9 km , 70.25 ± 1.00 km , 70.97 ± 20.63 km , 76.42 ± 0.67 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 26.00 ± 0.01 h , 26.0 ± 0.1 h , 26 ± 0.5 h , 26.017 ± 0.003 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1244 Deira
- Follows
- 1242 Zambesia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 69.883
- Orbital period
- 1992.030695097542
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1954 JO
- time of discovery or invention
- 1932-05-07
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0453462131016773
- orbital inclination
- 13.26357416433023
- periapsis
- 2.957860123782408
- apoapsis
- 3.23885781601128
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.098358969896844
- mean anomaly
- 353.6672095456446
- longitude of ascending node
- 245.5223071384199
- argument of periapsis
- 51.0509939061248
- absolute magnitude
- 9.66
- Commons category
- 1243 Pamela
- albedo
- 0.04
- rotation period
- 25.96
- time of periapsis
- 2461035.5419804743
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1243 Pamela, provisional designation 1932 JE, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 May 1932, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johnannesburg. The asteroid was named for Pamela Jackson, daughter of the discoverer.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1243 Pamela” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.