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. F. Helin
- Discovery site
- Palomar Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 December 1990
- Named after
- Bruce C. Murray , (American planetary scientist)
- Alternative designations
- 1990 XJ
- Minor planet category
- NEO · Amor , Mars-crosser
- Observation arc
- 41.35 yr (15,102 days)
- Aphelion
- 1.9082 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.2228 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.5655 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1.96 yr (715 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 282.15 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 30 11.52 / day
- Inclination
- 35.011°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 254.90°
- Argument of perihelion
- 97.487°
- Earth moid
- 0.4258 AU · 165.9 LD
- Dimensions
- 3.01 km , 3.06 km , 3.11 km (calculated) , 3.499 ± 0.095 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Named after
- Bruce C. Murray
- Followed by
- 4958 Wellnitz
- Follows
- Q1043872
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- Amor asteroid
- Diameter
- 3.499
- Orbital period
- 715.4177654797488
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Eleanor F. Helin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Palomar Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1990 XJ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1990-12-15
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2187856541292668
- orbital inclination
- 35.01186650795925
- periapsis
- 1.222956676367905
- apoapsis
- 1.907955301457618
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 1.565455988912761
- mean anomaly
- 351.7790648731431
- longitude of ascending node
- 254.8795816593864
- argument of periapsis
- 97.45776186638427
- absolute magnitude
- 15.05
- Commons category
- 4957 Brucemurray
- albedo
- 0.132
- rotation period
- 2.892
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461016.837230663
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4957 Brucemurray, provisional designation 1990 XJ, is a stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object of the Amor group and as Mars-crosser, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California on 15 December 1990. The asteroid was named after American planetary scientist Bruce C. Murray.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “4957 Brucemurray” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.