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
- 28 February 1932
- Named after
- Vladimir, (grandson of astronomer) , Milorad Protić
- Alternative designations
- 1932 DC · 1932 ED 1 , 1934 TB · 1952 UV 1 , 1961 VK · 1965 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 85.17 yr (31,110 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8670 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5580 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7125 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.47 yr (1,632 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 119.75 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 14.16 / day
- Inclination
- 12.232°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 164.03°
- Argument of perihelion
- 298.51°
- Dimensions
- 28.40 ± 12.05 km , 28.45 ± 9.13 km , 32.85 ± 0.42 km , 34.79 km ( IRAS :15) , 35.84 ± 0.48 km , 36.3 ± 3.6 km , 38.476 ± 0.236 , 40 ± 4 km , 42.505 ± 0.219 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12.557 ± 0.0123 h , 12.57 ± 0.01 h , 12.574 ± 0.0043 h , 12.582 ± 0.002 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q142870
- Follows
- Q127164
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 38.476
- Orbital period
- 1630.269860872674
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Eugène Joseph Delporte
- site of astronomical discovery
- Royal Observatory of Belgium
- provisional designation
- 1965 SE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1932-02-28
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.05741335331648244
- albedo
- 0.037
- orbital inclination
- 12.22948691849743
- periapsis
- 2.555222158035467
- apoapsis
- 2.866501493633041
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.710861825834254
- mean anomaly
- 65.26688417552222
- longitude of ascending node
- 163.8741561743497
- argument of periapsis
- 295.3931333289277
- absolute magnitude
- 11.52
- rotation period
- 12.582
- asteroid spectral type
- B-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460704.9371272656
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1724 Vladimir, provisional designation 1932 DC, is a rare-type asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 35 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 February 1932, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle, Belgium. The asteroid was later named by astronomer Milorad Protić after his grandson, Vladimir.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q142854” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.