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. Itzigsohn
- Discovery site
- La Plata Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 June 1950
- Named after
- Eva Perón , (First Lady of Argentina)
- Alternative designations
- 1950 LY
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 67.05 yr (24,490 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5573 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7521 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1547 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.60 yr (2,047 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 29.638 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 33.24 / day
- Inclination
- 11.608°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 93.914°
- Argument of perihelion
- 128.10°
- Dimensions
- 34.42 ± 10.19 km , 36.32 ± 0.56 km , 36.69 km (derived) , 36.79 ± 2.6 km , 37.06 ± 12.76 km , 37.252 ± 0.111 km , 39.47 ± 0.46 km , 39.969 ± 0.292 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 9.84 ± 0.01 h , 15.665 ± 0.004 h (dated) , 15.757 ± 0.005 h (dated)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Eva Perón
- Followed by
- 1583 Antilochus
- Follows
- Q141072
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 37.252
- Orbital period
- 2047.125008602562
- Image
- 001582-asteroid shape model (1582) Martir.png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Miguel Itzigsohn
- site of astronomical discovery
- La Plata Astronomical Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1950 LY
- time of discovery or invention
- 1950-06-15
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1252511392131833
- orbital inclination
- 11.60761628586892
- periapsis
- 2.760031319255224
- apoapsis
- 3.550422899050676
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.15522710915295
- mean anomaly
- 197.5105321930505
- longitude of ascending node
- 93.88817803164793
- argument of periapsis
- 127.719889602753
- absolute magnitude
- 11.55
- albedo
- 0.054
- rotation period
- 12.372
- time of periapsis
- 2461924.4895921727
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1582 Martir, provisional designation 1950 LY, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 June 1950, by Argentine astronomer Miguel Itzigsohn at the La Plata Astronomical Observatory in Argentina. The asteroid was named after the First Lady of Argentina, Eva Perón.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q141085” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.