2059 Baboquivari

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

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

16 October 1963

Named after

Baboquivari Mountains , (U.S. state of Arizona)

Alternative designations

1963 UA

Minor planet category

Amor · NEO · (1+KM)

Observation arc

53.51 yr (19,545 days)

Aphelion

4.0580 AU

Perihelion

1.2460 AU

Semi major axis

2.6520 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.32 yr (1,577 days)

Mean anomaly

176.48 °

Mean motion

0° 13 41.52 / day

Inclination

11.076°

Longitude of ascending node

200.92°

Argument of perihelion

191.73°

Earth moid

0.2537 AU · 98.8 LD

Dimensions

1.9 km (est. at 0.20 )

via Wikipedia infobox