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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 October 1937
- Named after
- Sister of Bror Asplind , (Swedish astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1937 UC · 1951 XH, 1967 EH · 1974 TX 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Gefion · background
- Observation arc
- 79.92 yr (29,191 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2757 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3162 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7960 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.68 yr (1,708 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 19.222 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 38.88 / day
- Inclination
- 8.2369°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 321.57°
- Argument of perihelion
- 93.975°
- Dimensions
- 12.687 ± 0.209 km , 14.22 km (calculated) , 14.574 ± 0.247 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 14 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q139140
- Follows
- 1432 Ethiopia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 12.687
- Orbital period
- 1709.790710476007
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Eugène Joseph Delporte
- site of astronomical discovery
- Royal Observatory of Belgium
- provisional designation
- 1974 TX1
- time of discovery or invention
- 1937-10-30
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1674870132503993
- absolute magnitude
- 11.77
- orbital inclination
- 8.246067318740607
- periapsis
- 2.329632239671331
- apoapsis
- 3.266994543934693
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.798313391803012
- mean anomaly
- 290.1481279181055
- longitude of ascending node
- 321.3996257610985
- argument of periapsis
- 94.79417538438483
- albedo
- 0.251
- rotation period
- 214.479
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461332.2557833195
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1433 Geramtina, provisional designation 1937 UC, is a stony Gefion asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle on 30 October 1937.
The asteroid was named "Geramtina" after the sister of Swedish astronomer Bror Asplind. Geramtina has an ordinary chondritic composition and has been considered a candidate for being the parent body of the H chondrites. However, results are inconclusive, and recent HCM analysis suggest that Geramtina is a Gefionian interloper rather than a core member of the family. The asteroid has a tentative rotation period of 14 hours.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q139129” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.