536 Merapi

Also known as (536) Merapi, Merapi

outer main-belt asteroid

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: George Henry Peters
Discovery site: Washington, D.C.
Discovery date: 11 May 1904
Pronunciation: / m ə ˈ r ɑː p i /
Named after: Mount Mĕrapi , West Sumatera

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Article

536 Merapi is a main belt asteroid orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by American astronomer George Henry Peters on May 11, 1904, from Washington, D.C.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Oakley Observatory in Terre Haute, Indiana, during 2006 gave a light curve with a period of 8.809 ± 0.008 hours and a brightness variation of 0.23 ± 0.05 in magnitude.