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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 August 1929
- Named after
- Herbert Hall Turner , (British astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 PL · 1930 UO, 1930 WL · 1932 CC, A919 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 87.93 yr (32,115 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3314 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7190 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0252 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.26 yr (1,922 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 252.20 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 14.28 / day
- Inclination
- 10.752°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 42.988°
- Argument of perihelion
- 295.00°
- Dimensions
- 34.290 ± 0.275 km , 35.56 ± 2.0 km , 37.17 ± 7.78 km , 39.06 ± 0.57 km , 39.19 ± 1.25 km , 39.691 ± 0.354 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12.010 h , 12.066 ± 0.004 h , 12.085 ± 0.001 h , 15 ± 2 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Herbert Hall Turner
- Followed by
- Q136862
- Follows
- Q136853
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 34.29
- Orbital period
- 1920.666387804077
- Image
- 001186-asteroid shape model (1186) Turnera.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- A919 SE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-08-01
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.101145748016643
- albedo
- 0.24
- orbital inclination
- 10.74330187949336
- periapsis
- 2.718055268561649
- apoapsis
- 3.32976675055692
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.023911009559285
- mean anomaly
- 92.58567835999463
- longitude of ascending node
- 42.93271987778748
- argument of periapsis
- 297.3722566128863
- absolute magnitude
- 9.97
- Commons category
- 1186 Turnera
- rotation period
- 12.085
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460506.538332172
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1186 Turnera, provisional designation 1929 PL, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 August 1929, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The asteroid was later named after British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner.
Classification and orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q136858” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.