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
- Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )
- Discovery site
- Goethe Link Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 September 1955
- Named after
- John A. Miller (entrepreneur)
- Alternative designations
- 1955 RC 1 · 1929 RV, 1940 WF · 1950 TD 2 , 1952 BL 1 · 1962 AA, 1971 TU 2
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 75.74 yr (27,665 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2492 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7420 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9956 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.18 yr (1,894 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 272.27 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 24.36 / day
- Inclination
- 9.2276°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 274.23°
- Argument of perihelion
- 163.29°
- Dimensions
- 19.746 ± 0.075 km , 23.099 ± 0.190 , 24.31 km (derived) , 24.41 ± 1.9 km , 26.34 ± 0.95 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.77 ± 0.01 h (dated) , 30.049 ± 0.001 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- John Miller
- Followed by
- 1827 Atkinson
- Follows
- 1825 Klare
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 23.099
- Orbital period
- 1894.229395777237
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Indiana Asteroid Program
- site of astronomical discovery
- Goethe Link Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1971 TU2
- time of discovery or invention
- 1955-09-14
- orbital inclination
- 9.23556120058857
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.08176701695173126
- periapsis
- 2.751116523754464
- apoapsis
- 3.24108060822298
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.996098565988722
- mean anomaly
- 124.972265014235
- longitude of ascending node
- 273.9793893359661
- argument of periapsis
- 160.8864558004357
- absolute magnitude
- 11.16
- albedo
- 0.176
- rotation period
- 30.049
- time of periapsis
- 2460342.927394314
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1826 Miller, provisional designation 1955 RC1, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 14 September 1955, by the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States, and named after American entrepreneur John Miller.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1826 Miller” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.