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
- G. Kulin
- Discovery site
- Konkoly Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 January 1938
- Named after
- Gedeon Róka (1906–1974), (Hungarian science writer)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 BH · 1951 NP, 1962 NA · 1963 UM, 1974 SZ 1 · 1978 AE, 1985 UL 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Themis
- Observation arc
- 79.18 yr (28,920 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5790 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6682 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1236 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.52 yr (2,016 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 17.333 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 42.6 / day
- Inclination
- 2.5352°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 95.329°
- Argument of perihelion
- 180.50°
- Dimensions
- 21.12 km (derived) , 21.36 ± 3.1 km , 23.40 ± 0.52 km , 24.122 ± 0.246 km , 24.273 ± 0.234 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 10.04 ± 0.02 h , 10.09 ± 0.01 h
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2058 Róka, provisional designation 1938 BH, is a Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 22 January 1938, by Hungarian György Kulin at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. The asteroid was named in memory of Hungarian science writer Gedeon Róka.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “2058 Róka” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.