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
- O. Oikawa
- Discovery site
- Tokyo Astronomical Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 November 1927
- Named after
- Mitaka (Japanese village)
- Alternative designations
- 1927 WA · 1942 FR, 1953 VW 3 · 1971 BE, A917 RA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 88.22 yr (32,224 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6328 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7722 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2025 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.27 yr (1,194 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 200.92 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 18 5.4 / day
- Inclination
- 7.6514°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 54.495°
- Argument of perihelion
- 319.50°
- Mean diameter
- 11.33 ± 2.51 km , 13.35 ± 0.75 km , 15.137 ± 0.131 km , 15.957 ± 0.030 km , 16.016 km , 16.02 km (taken)
- Synodic rotation period
- 3.027 ± 0.003 h , 3.0353 ± 0.0005 h , 3.035 377 h , 3.035 378 ± 0.000 005 h , 3.0354 ± 0.0002 h , 3.0361 ± 0.0007 h , 3.049 ± 0.005 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Mitaka
- Followed by
- 1089 Tama
- Follows
- Q135773
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 15.137
- Orbital period
- 1193.138213066049
- Image
- 1088Mitaka (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Okuro Oikawa
- provisional designation
- A917 RA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1927-11-17
- orbital inclination
- 7.652350541404465
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.195338355005273
- periapsis
- 1.771501480594726
- apoapsis
- 2.631595129301064
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.201548304947895
- mean anomaly
- 25.89044105965144
- longitude of ascending node
- 54.45201450475975
- argument of periapsis
- 319.6730862218796
- absolute magnitude
- 11.33
- Commons category
- 1088 Mitaka
- albedo
- 0.173
- rotation period
- 3.0361
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460914.692015052
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1088 Mitaka (prov. designation: 1927 WA) is a bright background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 17 November 1927, by Japanese astronomer Okuro Oikawa at the old Tokyo Astronomical Observatory in Japan. The stony S-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) in diameter. It was named after the Japanese village of Mitaka.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q135786” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.