1555 Dejan

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

F. Rigaux

Discovery site

Uccle Obs.

Discovery date

15 September 1941

Named after

Dejan Đurković (son of astronomer Petar Đurković )

Alternative designations

1941 SA · 1932 PC, 1934 CD 1 · 1954 NJ

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( middle )

Observation arc

84.64 yr (30,913 days)

Aphelion

3.4332 AU

Perihelion

1.9442 AU

Semi major axis

2.6887 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.41 yr (1,610 days)

Mean anomaly

71.768 °

Mean motion

0° 13 24.96 / day

Inclination

6.0200°

Longitude of ascending node

318.08°

Argument of perihelion

47.825°

Dimensions

19.21 km (calculated) , 21.77 ± 7.25 km , 23.199 ± 0.314 km , 24.04 ± 0.48 km

Synodic rotation period

16.960 ± 0.002 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

1556 Wingolfia

Follows

1554 Yugoslavia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

23.199

Orbital period

1611.975508705315

Image

001555-asteroid shape model (1555) Dejan.png

via Wikidata · CC0