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
(1353) Maartje
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 3.011 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.095
- Inclination
- 9.202 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.040 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- H. van Gent
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 13 February 1935
- Named after
- Maartje Mekking , (daughter of Dutch orbit, computer B. G. Mekking)
- Alternative designations
- 1935 CU · 1931 ME, 1953 TZ 2 · A910 LB, A916 QB · A920 JC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 97.48 yr (35,606 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2988 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7210 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0099 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.22 yr (1,907 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 134.16 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 19.32 / day
- Inclination
- 9.2032°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 211.79°
- Argument of perihelion
- 98.471°
- Dimensions
- 33.75 ± 3.9 km , 34.16 km (derived) , 37.16 ± 10.25 km , 38.13 ± 0.79 km , 39.013 ± 0.534 km , 39.55 ± 0.68 km , 42.175 ± 0.390 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12 h , 18 h , 22.930 ± 0.001 h (best) , 22.98 ± 0.05 h , 22.9924 ± 0.0002 h , 22.9926 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1354 Botha
- Follows
- 1352 Wawel
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 39.013
- Orbital period
- 1908.64244631911
- Image
- 1353Maartje (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Hendrik van Gent
- provisional designation
- A920 JC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1935-02-13
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09513238579759956
- orbital inclination
- 9.202200390014665
- periapsis
- 2.724807413029179
- apoapsis
- 3.297747423196167
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.011277418112673
- mean anomaly
- 342.5091759251757
- longitude of ascending node
- 211.6183764806514
- argument of periapsis
- 96.49213596296853
- absolute magnitude
- 10.04
- Commons category
- 1353 Maartje
- albedo
- 0.136
- rotation period
- 22.93
- time of periapsis
- 2461093.232581251
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1353 Maartje, provisional designation 1935 CU, is an Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 February 1935, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. The asteroid was named after Maartje Mekking, daughter of a staff member at the Dutch Leiden Observatory.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1353 Maartje” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.