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
- 14 June 1936
- Named after
- Limpopo River
- Alternative designations
- 1936 LB · 1931 BL, 1937 WJ · 1937 YK, 1947 ND · 1965 OD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 85.81 yr (31,341 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7182 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9869 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3525 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.61 yr (1,318 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 63.865 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 23.16 / day
- Inclination
- 10.020°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 254.27°
- Argument of perihelion
- 90.817°
- Dimensions
- 14.844 ± 0.112 , 16.358 ± 0.045 km , 18.55 km (derived) , 18.58 ± 1.4 km , 19.35 ± 0.27 km , 20.21 ± 0.36 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.15 ± 0.1 h , 6.426 ± 0.003 h , 6.647 ± 0.004 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Limpopo River
- Followed by
- 1491 Balduinus
- Follows
- 1489 Attila
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 14.844
- Orbital period
- 1317.454766520336
- Image
- 1490Limpopo (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1965 OD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1936-06-14
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1555404407717097
- orbital inclination
- 10.02499824297656
- periapsis
- 1.986111900826611
- apoapsis
- 2.717753143087677
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.351932521957144
- mean anomaly
- 217.936225930073
- longitude of ascending node
- 254.2242491157528
- argument of periapsis
- 90.70084368813312
- absolute magnitude
- 12.13
- Commons category
- 1490 Limpopo
- albedo
- 0.068
- rotation period
- 6.647
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461520.3961008284
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1490 Limpopo, provisional designation 1936 LB, is a carbonaceous–metallic asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 June 1936, by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. It was named for the Limpopo River.
Orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1490 Limpopo” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.