1419 Danzig

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

1419 Danzig (1929 RF)

Orbit class

Main-belt Asteroid

Diameter

14.997 km

Albedo

0.260

Rotation period

8.120 h

Absolute magnitude

11.400 H

Earth MOID

0.978 AU

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database

Key facts

Discovered by

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

5 September 1929

Named after

German name of the, Polish city of Gdańsk

Alternative designations

1929 RF · 1936 RD, 1952 HJ 4 · 1957 WO 1 , A917 GA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) Flora · background

Observation arc

99.90 yr (36,489 days)

Aphelion

2.6285 AU

Perihelion

1.9570 AU

Semi major axis

2.2927 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.47 yr (1,268 days)

Mean anomaly

356.63 °

Mean motion

0° 17 2.04 / day

Inclination

5.7254°

Longitude of ascending node

213.53°

Argument of perihelion

232.65°

Mean diameter

14.059 ± 0.096 km , 14.139 km , 14.997 ± 0.382 km , 15.09 ± 0.22 km

Synodic rotation period

8.0 ± 0.1 h 8.1202 ± 0.0001 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

14.997

Orbital period

1268.220487355407

Image

1419Danzig (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0