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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. N. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeis
- Discovery date
- 20 April 1914
- Pronunciation
- / m ɒ s k ˈ v ɑː / mosk- VAH
- Alternative designations
- 1914 UQ
- Observation arc
- 100.47 yr (36695 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8690 AU (429.20 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2090 AU (330.46 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5390 AU (379.83 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.05 yr (1477.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 18.5642 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 37.032 / day
- Inclination
- 14.852°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 183.890°
- Argument of perihelion
- 126.135°
- Mean radius
- 13.755 ± 1.4 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.056 h (0.2523 d )
- Geometric albedo
- 0.2559 ± 0.062
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
787 Moskva is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It is a dynamic member of the Maria asteroid family orbiting near the 3:1 Kirkwood gap. This is an S-type (stony) asteroid spanning 27 km. The surface mineralogy is consistent with mesosiderite silicates.
Object 1914 UQ, discovered 20 April 1914 by Grigory Neujmin, was named 787 Moskva, after the capital of Russia, Moscow (and retains that name to this day). Object 1934 FD discovered on 19 March 1934 by C. Jackson was given the sequence number 1317. In 1938, G. N. Neujmin found that asteroid 1317 and 787 Moskva were, in fact, the same object. Sequence number 1317 was later reused for the object 1935 RC discovered on 1 September 1935 by Karl Reinmuth; that object is now known as 1317 Silvretta.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “787 Moskva” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.