1414 Jérôme

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

L. Boyer

Discovery site

Algiers Obs.

Discovery date

12 February 1937

Named after

Jérôme Boyer, (father of discoverer)

Alternative designations

1937 CE · 1951 EO 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle ) , Dora

Observation arc

79.34 yr (28,979 days)

Aphelion

3.2338 AU

Perihelion

2.3351 AU

Semi major axis

2.7844 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.65 yr (1,697 days)

Mean anomaly

67.505 °

Mean motion

0° 12 43.56 / day

Inclination

8.8558°

Longitude of ascending node

143.76°

Argument of perihelion

2.7504°

Dimensions

15.105 ± 0.453 km , 17.24 km ( IRAS :4)

Geometric albedo

0.054 ± 0.014 , 0.0652 ± 0.011 (IRAS:4)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

15.105

Orbital period

1698.585120960718

via Wikidata · CC0