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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 November 1937
- Named after
- Magnya , ("clear, bright, wonderful")
- Alternative designations
- 1937 VA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 79.48 yr (29,030 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.8761 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4113 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1437 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.57 yr (2,036 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 121.53 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 36.48 / day
- Inclination
- 16.940°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 41.541°
- Argument of perihelion
- 328.81°
- Dimensions
- 17 km , 17.4 km (taken) , 29.188 ± 1.833 km , 29.90 ± 3.1 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 4.678 ± 0.001 h , 4.678 88 ± 0.000 04 h , 4.679 100 ± 0.000 005 h , 4.679 102 ± 0.000 001 h , 4.679 11 ± 0.000 05 h , 4.68 h , 4.680 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- (1460) Haltia
- Follows
- 1458 Mineura
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 29.188
- Orbital period
- 2044.823653930701
- Image
- 001459-asteroid shape model (1459) Magnya.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- 2019 FD5
- time of discovery or invention
- 1937-11-04
- orbital inclination
- 16.89073969336562
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.152861952226588
- periapsis
- 2.433478893768467
- apoapsis
- 3.87224501068471
- longitude of ascending node
- 41.37970098963092
- argument of periapsis
- 328.7688338771981
- mean anomaly
- 290.5505732237481
- rotation period
- 4.678
- asteroid spectral type
- V-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 10.47
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2281682704027319
- Commons category
- 1459 Magnya
- albedo
- 0.909
- time of periapsis
- 2461394.977307289
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1459 Magnya, provisional designation 1937 VA, is a basaltic, slightly elongated asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory in 1937, this background asteroid was later named from the Latin word "Magnya", which means "clear, bright, wonderful" when literally translated into Russian. It is the only known basalt asteroid orbiting beyond 4 Vesta.
Discovery
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1459 Magnya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.