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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 August 1932
- Pronunciation
- / n ɔːr ˈ m æ n i ə /
- Named after
- Normans / Normandy , (people/region in France)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 PD · 1930 KO
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda · background
- Observation arc
- 87.43 yr (31,933 days)
- Aphelion
- 4.1995 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.5903 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.8949 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 7.69 yr (2,808 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 5.5363 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 7 41.52 / day
- Inclination
- 4.1732°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 236.94°
- Argument of perihelion
- 101.06°
- Dimensions
- 68.253 ± 0.436 km , 69.02 km (derived) , 69.22 ± 2.8 km , 73.26 ± 2.34 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Normans
- Followed by
- 1257 Móra
- Follows
- 1255 Schilowa
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 68.245
- Orbital period
- 2800.437546560514
- Image
- 001256-asteroid shape model (1256) Normannia.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1932 PD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1932-08-08
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.07852426306335927
- albedo
- 0.052
- orbital inclination
- 4.176494386017217
- periapsis
- 3.582907100653682
- apoapsis
- 4.193547464638985
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.888227282646333
- mean anomaly
- 28.78015403841606
- longitude of ascending node
- 236.8565563299441
- argument of periapsis
- 102.4398683427426
- absolute magnitude
- 9.82
- Commons category
- 1256 Normannia
- rotation period
- 52.0
- asteroid spectral type
- D-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460776.6193778752
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1256 Normannia (prov. designation: 1932 PD) is a dark Hilda asteroid and slow rotator from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 69 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1932, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The asteroid was likely named after the Normans who gave their name to the region of Normandy in France.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1256 Normannia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.