Image by ArvidO 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
(1546) Izsak
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 3.171 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.128
- Inclination
- 16.124 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.700 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- G. Kulin
- Discovery site
- Konkoly Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 September 1941
- Named after
- Imre Izsák , (Hungarian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1941 SG 1 · 1935 QC, 1938 FH · 1978 BF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 81.86 yr (29,898 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5686 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7886 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1786 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.67 yr (2,070 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 77.417 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 26.04 / day
- Inclination
- 16.138°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 190.47°
- Argument of perihelion
- 280.94°
- Mean diameter
- 19.31 ± 0.85 km , 26.08 ± 1.45 km , 26.438 ± 0.139 km , 28.487 ± 0.110 km , 42.23 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.332 00 ± 0.000 05 h , 7.350 ± 0.006 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Imre Izsak
- Followed by
- 1547 Nele
- Follows
- 1545 Thernöe
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 26.438
- Orbital period
- 2063.400283696262
- Image
- 001546-asteroid shape model (1546) Izsák.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- György Kulin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Konkoly Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1978 BF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1941-09-28
- orbital inclination
- 16.12163456429827
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.12803738307556
- periapsis
- 2.765802971029119
- apoapsis
- 3.578053789217266
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.171928380123192
- mean anomaly
- 240.4882922306545
- longitude of ascending node
- 190.2719834674751
- argument of periapsis
- 280.9360599610535
- absolute magnitude
- 10.7
- Commons category
- 1546 Izsák
- albedo
- 0.133
- rotation period
- 7.35
- time of periapsis
- 2461685.5013658786
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1546 Izsák (provisional designation 1941 SG1) is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 September 1941, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary. The asteroid was named after Hungarian astronomer Imre Izsák.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1546 Izsák” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.