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
- P. Shajn
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 September 1935
- Named after
- Couple of astronomers, ( Pelageya and Grigory )
- Alternative designations
- 1935 RF · 1934 CK 1 , 1938 MC · 1941 FD, 1948 LC · 1951 EX 2 , 1952 SX · 1952 UW, 1955 QT · 1955 RP, A921 GB · A924 EQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 95.99 yr (35,061 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6971 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7737 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2354 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.34 yr (1,221 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 250.93 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 41.64 / day
- Inclination
- 4.5723°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 130.42°
- Argument of perihelion
- 134.71°
- Dimensions
- 8.26 ± 1.47 km , 8.30 ± 0.30 km , 9.23 km (calculated) , 9.450 ± 0.141 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.413 68 ± 0.000 01 h , 6.413 69 ± 0.000 05 h , 6.4140 ± 0.0002 h , 6.4140 ± 0.0164 h (R) , 6.4248 ± 0.0164 h (S)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Pelageya Shajn
- Followed by
- 1649 Fabre
- Follows
- 1647 Menelaus
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 9.45
- Orbital period
- 1220.569707644135
- Image
- 001648-asteroid shape model (1648) Shajna.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Pelageya Shajn
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A924 EQ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1935-09-05
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2075561216937033
- orbital inclination
- 4.572374289593941
- periapsis
- 1.771242217731857
- apoapsis
- 2.699086259074758
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.235164238403307
- mean anomaly
- 55.47087968721056
- longitude of ascending node
- 130.3370193102662
- argument of periapsis
- 134.6910756584536
- absolute magnitude
- 12.08
- Commons category
- 1648 Shajna
- albedo
- 0.191
- rotation period
- 6.4156
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460812.4275683262
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1648 Shajna, provisional designation 1935 RF, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 September 1935, by Russian astronomer Pelageya Shajn at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. Two weeks later, it was independently discovered by Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory, South Africa. It was later named after the discoverer and her husband, Russian astronomers Grigory Shajn.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1648 Shajna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.