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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 January 1935
- Named after
- Guido Gezelle , (poet and priest)
- Alternative designations
- 1935 BD · 1929 AA, 1933 SE 1 · 1939 VK, 1950 SX · 1978 NA 8 , A924 EO
~3 min read
Article
1672 Gezelle, provisional designation 1935 BD, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 January 1935, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle, Belgium. It was later named after Flemish poet and Roman Catholic priest Guido Gezelle.
Orbit and classification