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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 February 1929
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- 1929 CU · 1925 QE, 1964 HA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hygiea
- Observation arc
- 88.95 yr (32,489 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5443 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9085 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2264 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.80 yr (2,117 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 96.944 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 12.36 / day
- Inclination
- 4.1199°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 268.08°
- Argument of perihelion
- 359.39°
- Mean diameter
- 61.817 ± 0.265 km , 62.39 ± 0.36 km , 63.2 ± 12.6 km , 64 ± 6 km , 65.677 ± 0.810 km , 66.49 ± 1.32 km , 66.53 ± 1.4 km , 69.640 ± 22.05 km , 74.94 ± 22.96 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.277 ± 0.002 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1110 Jaroslawa
- Follows
- Q136011
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 61.817
- Orbital period
- 2127.417424036333
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1964 HA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-02-05
- orbital inclination
- 4.130160067604647
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09688605765903517
- albedo
- 0.044
- periapsis
- 2.923560397776201
- apoapsis
- 3.550839477389118
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.237199937582659
- mean anomaly
- 206.8343951389114
- longitude of ascending node
- 267.8459466013782
- argument of periapsis
- 5.026495959907578
- absolute magnitude
- 10.04
- rotation period
- 8.277
- asteroid spectral type
- F-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461905.631045957
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1109 Tata, provisional designation 1929 CU, is a dark Hygiean asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 69 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 February 1929, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The meaning of the asteroids's name is unknown.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q136036” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.