1259 Ógyalla

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

29 January 1933

Named after

Hurbanovo Observatory ( 551 ), (formerly O'Gyalla Observatory)

Alternative designations

1933 BT · 1928 DJ 1 , 1928 FO · 1929 MA, 1935 QE 1 · 1949 YN, 1956 JF

Minor planet category

main-belt · Themis

Observation arc

89.36 yr (32,640 days)

Aphelion

3.5000 AU

Perihelion

2.7064 AU

Semi major axis

3.1032 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.47 yr (1,997 days)

Mean anomaly

94.460 °

Mean motion

0° 10 49.08 / day

Inclination

2.3810°

Longitude of ascending node

75.001°

Argument of perihelion

149.89°

Dimensions

26.59 ± 7.87 km , 31.32 ± 1.13 km , 33.13 ± 1.6 km , 33.31 km (derived) , 36.111 ± 0.510 km , 39.484 ± 0.440 km

Synodic rotation period

12 h (dated) , 17.2669 ± 0.1183 h (S) , 17.3038 ± 0.0573 h (R) , 17.334 ± 0.004 h

via Wikipedia infobox