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
Small body data
(1289) Kutaissi
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.859 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.061
- Inclination
- 1.617 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.650 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 19 August 1933
- Named after
- Kutaisi (city in Georgia )
- Alternative designations
- 1933 QR · 1928 QD, 1948 TJ 2 · 1953 TO 2 , A893 GA · A919 UC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Koronis
- Observation arc
- 88.24 yr (32,228 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0411 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6783 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8597 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.84 yr (1,766 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 113.61 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 13.68 / day
- Inclination
- 1.6165°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 193.19°
- Argument of perihelion
- 117.39°
- Mean diameter
- 19.20 ± 0.45 km , 21.531 ± 0.269 km , 22.610 ± 0.158 km , 22.97 ± 0.56 km , 25.53 km (derived) , 25.62 ± 1.8 km ( IRAS :4)
- Synodic rotation period
- 3.60 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Kutaisi
- Followed by
- 1290 Albertine
- Follows
- 1288 Santa
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 21.531
- Orbital period
- 1766.495556119958
- Image
- 001289-asteroid shape model (1289) Kutaïssi.png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A919 UC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1933-08-19
- asteroid family
- Koronis family
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.06103945374341618
- albedo
- 0.245
- orbital inclination
- 1.617174990615355
- periapsis
- 2.6852831858379
- apoapsis
- 3.034410142158673
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.859846663998286
- mean anomaly
- 47.87305222825683
- longitude of ascending node
- 193.0204669611328
- argument of periapsis
- 115.288006316211
- absolute magnitude
- 10.66
- Commons category
- 1289 Kutaïssi
- rotation period
- 3.6
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460765.5901832804
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1289 Kutaïssi (prov. designation: 1933 QR) is a stony Koronian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt. Discovered by Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory in 1933, it was later named after the Georgian city of Kutaisi. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.6 hours and measures approximately 22 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter.
Discovery
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1289 Kutaïssi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.