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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 March 1935
- Named after
- Vladimir Albitzky , (Soviet/Russian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1935 FJ · 1933 TB, 1952 BP 1 · 1952 DP, 1970 GA 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia · Adeona
- Observation arc
- 82.12 yr (29,993 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0132 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3124 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6628 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.35 yr (1,587 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 23.419 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 36.48 / day
- Inclination
- 11.506°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 189.51°
- Argument of perihelion
- 315.93°
- Dimensions
- 20.47 ± 6.78 km , 21.34 km (derived) , 21.36 ± 2.4 km ( IRAS :3) , 24.268 ± 0.093 km , 24.64 ± 7.83 km , 24.68 ± 0.76 km , 25.642 ± 0.178 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 12 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Vladimir Albitsky
- Followed by
- Q143706
- Follows
- Q143678
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 24.268
- Orbital period
- 1587.424752747079
- Image
- 001783-asteroid shape model (1783) Albitskij.png
Show 20 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1970 GA1
- time of discovery or invention
- 1935-03-24
- asteroid family
- Adeona family
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1326744524376868
- absolute magnitude
- 12.2
- orbital inclination
- 11.49507638467402
- periapsis
- 2.309822564955016
- apoapsis
- 3.016487887785491
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.663155226370253
- mean anomaly
- 345.4346341399148
- longitude of ascending node
- 189.3767325164121
- argument of periapsis
- 314.6969859222438
- Commons category
- 1783 Albitskij
- albedo
- 0.055
- rotation period
- 19.93
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461064.726173053
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1783 Albitskij, provisional designation 1935 FJ, is a carbonaceous Adeonian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 March 1935, by Georgian–Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after Soviet astronomer Vladimir Albitzky.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q143704” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.