Image by 2427999 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
Key facts
- Discovered by
- T. Smirnova
- Discovery site
- Crimean Astrophysical Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 April 1972
- Pronunciation
- / ʃ ə ˈ p ɒ ʃ n ɪ k ɒ v /
- Named after
- Vladimir Shaposhnikov, (Soviet astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1972 HU · 1940 GK, 1941 MC · 1950 TD 4 , 1951 WY 1 · 1951 YD, 1958 TP 1 · 1958 VB, 1959 XA · 1972 JA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda · background
- Observation arc
- 77.07 yr (28,149 days)
- Aphelion
- 4.8450 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.0853 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.9651 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 7.90 yr (2,884 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 186.17 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 7 29.28 / day
- Inclination
- 12.495°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 59.315°
- Argument of perihelion
- 268.16°
- Mean diameter
- 83.443 ± 1.723 km , 89.24 ± 33.98 km , 91.60 ± 1.54 km , 96.86 ± 3.2 km , 97.01 km (derived)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1903 Adzhimushkaj
- Follows
- 1901 Moravia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 83.43
- Orbital period
- 2882.819070910114
- Image
- 001902-asteroid shape model (1902) Shaposhnikov.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Tamara Smirnova
- site of astronomical discovery
- Crimean Astrophysical Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1972 JA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1972-04-18
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2209724865134627
- orbital inclination
- 12.48318310779941
- periapsis
- 3.088152717775886
- apoapsis
- 4.840072317447477
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.964112517611682
- mean anomaly
- 202.3142029276733
- longitude of ascending node
- 59.03000972468809
- argument of periapsis
- 266.2686217642647
- absolute magnitude
- 9.33
- Commons category
- 1902 Shaposhnikov
- albedo
- 0.04
- rotation period
- 20.977
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2462263.2211750327
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1902 Shaposhnikov (prov. designation: 1972 HU) is a dark Hilda asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 92 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 April 1972, by Russian astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after Soviet astronomer and WWII casualty Vladimir Shaposhnikov. It was one of the last larger asteroids discovered in the main belt.
Orbit and characteristics
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1902 Shaposhnikov” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.