1510 Charlois

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

A. Patry

Discovery site

Nice Obs.

Discovery date

22 February 1939

Named after

Auguste Charlois (astronomer)

Alternative designations

1939 DC · 1959 WE, 1963 UB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eunomia

Observation arc

78.10 yr (28,525 days)

Aphelion

3.0649 AU

Perihelion

2.2791 AU

Semi major axis

2.6720 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.37 yr (1,595 days)

Mean anomaly

16.619 °

Mean motion

0° 13 32.52 / day

Inclination

11.821°

Longitude of ascending node

331.49°

Argument of perihelion

165.25°

Dimensions

20.30 ± 0.39 km , 23.68 km (derived) , 23.80 ± 2.8 km ( IRAS :11) , 24.507 ± 0.345 , 26.98 ± 0.64 km , 27.608 ± 0.373 km

Synodic rotation period

5.866 ± 0.0003 h , 6.653 ± 0.008 h

via Wikipedia infobox