Image by zapaceh6350 on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
(1534) Nasi
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.731 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.250
- Inclination
- 9.793 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 11.870 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Observatory
- Discovery date
- 20 January 1939
- Named after
- Näsijärvi (Finnish lake)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 BK · 1933 UQ, 1957 EA · 1960 UB, 1962 JA · A915 VB, A924 WE · A924 YE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Chloris
- Observation arc
- 91.56 yr (33,443 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4155 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0404 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7279 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.51 yr (1,646 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 174.04 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 7.68 / day
- Inclination
- 9.7942°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 62.135°
- Argument of perihelion
- 42.826°
- Dimensions
- 18.32 ± 5.21 km , 19.51 ± 0.36 km , 19.92 ± 0.65 km , 22.11 km (derived) , 22.12 ± 0.9 km ( IRAS :6) , 27.52 ± 6.50 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.98 ± 0.02 h , 7.931 61 ± 0.000 05 h , 7.9338 ± 0.0003 h , 7.94 ± 0.02 h , 9.75 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Näsijärvi
- Followed by
- 1535 Päijänne
- Follows
- 1533 Saimaa
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 22.12
- Orbital period
- 1648.140985951176
- Image
- 001534-asteroid shape model (1534) Näsi.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Yrjö Väisälä
- site of astronomical discovery
- Iso-Heikkilä Observatory
- provisional designation
- A924 YE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1939-01-20
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.250450475125341
- orbital inclination
- 9.794479512861189
- periapsis
- 2.046747592990617
- apoapsis
- 3.41452621232032
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.730636902655469
- mean anomaly
- 110.4487107808732
- longitude of ascending node
- 62.08716322591741
- argument of periapsis
- 42.33819278896738
- absolute magnitude
- 11.87
- Commons category
- 1534 Näsi
- albedo
- 0.0754
- rotation period
- 7.94
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460494.847091435
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1534 Näsi (provisional designation 1939 BK) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 20 January 1939, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, and later named for the Finnish lake Näsijärvi.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1534 Näsi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.