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
- H. E. Wood
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 April 1911
- Pronunciation
- / t r æ n z ˈ v ɑː l i ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1911 LX
- Observation arc
- 104.91 yr (38318 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9989 AU (448.63 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5422 AU (380.31 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7706 AU (414.48 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.61 yr (1684.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 192.37 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 49.392 / day
- Inclination
- 13.808°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 46.109°
- Argument of perihelion
- 299.865°
- Mean radius
- 14.275 ± 1.15 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 11.83 h (0.493 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.2606 ± 0.048
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
715 Transvaalia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
The object 1911 LX discovered April 22, 1911, by H. E. Wood was named 715 Transvaalia. It was named after Transvaal, former province of South Africa. On April 23, 1920, the object 1920 GZ was discovered and named 933 Susi. In 1928 it was realized that these were one and the same object. The name Transvaalia was kept, and the name and number 933 Susi was reused for the object 1927 CH discovered February 10, 1927, by Karl Reinmuth. 715 Transvaalia has been observed to occult two stars, both events in 2022.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “715 Transvaalia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.