1580 Betulia

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

E. L. Johnson

Discovery site

Johannesburg Obs.

Discovery date

22 May 1950

Pronunciation

/ b ɛ ˈ tj uː l i ə /

Named after

Betulia Toro Herrick, (wife of astronomer S. Herrick )

Alternative designations

1950 KA

Minor planet category

NEO · Amor

Observation arc

66.64 yr (24,342 days)

Aphelion

3.2684 AU

Perihelion

1.1258 AU

Semi major axis

2.1971 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.26 yr (1,190 days)

Mean anomaly

252.41 °

Mean motion

0° 18 9.36 / day

Inclination

52.096°

Longitude of ascending node

62.291°

Argument of perihelion

159.50°

Earth moid

0.1365 AU · 53.2 LD

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

near-Earth object

Followed by

1581 Abanderada

Follows

1579 Herrick

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

5.8

Orbital period

1187.797997687761

Image

1580Betulia (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0