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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 20 February 1938
- Named after
- Jean Jacques Raimond, Jr. , (Dutch astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 DP · 1934 GJ, A915 TF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 101.96 yr (37,242 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0591 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1642 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6117 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1,542 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 351.45 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 0.6 / day
- Inclination
- 4.8635°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 74.927°
- Argument of perihelion
- 13.427°
- Dimensions
- 14.75 km (derived) , 14.76 ± 4.56 km , 14.88 ± 0.9 km , 18.481 ± 0.084 km , 18.700 ± 0.068 km , 20.80 ± 1.15 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12.6344 h , 12.66 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Jean Jacques Raimond, Jr.
- Followed by
- 1451 Granö
- Follows
- Q139294
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 18.481
- Orbital period
- 1540.596239082742
- Image
- 1450Raimonda (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Yrjö Väisälä
- site of astronomical discovery
- Iso-Heikkilä Observatory
- provisional designation
- 2019 CT11
- time of discovery or invention
- 1938-02-20
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1717512738877608
- orbital inclination
- 4.854991559941926
- periapsis
- 2.162159430415082
- apoapsis
- 3.058879521408381
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.610519475911731
- mean anomaly
- 330.3137688511105
- longitude of ascending node
- 74.83427730449442
- argument of periapsis
- 14.92344945971028
- absolute magnitude
- 12.54
- albedo
- 0.094
- rotation period
- 12.67
- time of periapsis
- 2461127.5402668347
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1450 Raimonda, provisional designation 1938 DP, is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 February 1938, by astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory in Turku, Finland. The asteroid was named after Dutch astronomer Jean Jacques Raimond, Jr.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q139317” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.