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
- M. B. Protitch
- Discovery site
- Belgrade Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 November 1937
- Named after
- Josip Broz Tito (statesman)
- Alternative designations
- 1937 WD · 1941 XA, 1941 YE · 1945 WB, 1949 UR · 1983 CG 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 79.34 yr (28,979 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3418 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7471 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5444 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.06 yr (1,482 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 256.39 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 34.08 / day
- Inclination
- 8.8802°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 64.500°
- Argument of perihelion
- 311.14°
- Dimensions
- 9.47 ± 2.13 km , 11.391 ± 0.108 km , 11.45 ± 0.28 km , 11.98 ± 0.15 km , 12.39 km (calculated) , 12.431 ± 0.062 km , 12.88 ± 2.28 km , 13.652 ± 2.335 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 30 ± 1 h , 54.2 ± 0.3 h , 54.53 ± 0.01 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Josip Broz Tito
- Followed by
- 1551 Argelander
- Follows
- 1549 Mikko
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 11.391
- Orbital period
- 1482.16759889759
- Image
- Орбита астероида 1550.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Milorad B. Protić
- site of astronomical discovery
- Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade
- provisional designation
- 1983 CG3
- time of discovery or invention
- 1937-11-29
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.3136790947313768
- orbital inclination
- 8.882571953830823
- periapsis
- 1.746062639359104
- apoapsis
- 3.34211878118411
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.544090710271607
- mean anomaly
- 265.4334931126581
- longitude of ascending node
- 64.46689637996853
- argument of periapsis
- 311.1285582236815
- absolute magnitude
- 11.89
- albedo
- 0.257
- rotation period
- 54.2
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461389.8428123593
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1550 Tito (provisional designation 1937 WD) is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 November 1937, by Serbian astronomer Milorad B. Protić at the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory in Serbia. It was named for Yugoslavian statesman Josip Broz Tito.
Classification and orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1550 Tito” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.