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. Bowell
- Discovery site
- Anderson Mesa Stn.
- Discovery date
- 26 October 1984
- Named after
- George Alcock , (amateur astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1984 UV · 1962 YD, 1969 BB · 1973 YO 1 , 1975 EO 3 · 1978 RB 1 , 1978 TJ 3 · 1979 YR 8 , 1980 AH · 1981 GF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Themis
- Observation arc
- 47.71 yr (17,426 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.6932 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5991 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1462 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.58 yr (2,038 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 296.20 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 35.76 / day
- Inclination
- 2.3715°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 72.244°
- Argument of perihelion
- 4.6082°
- Mean diameter
- 18.66 ± 0.80 km , 18.71 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 7.05 ± 0.01 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Orbital period
- 2039.610772058087
- Image
- 003174-asteroid shape model (3174) Alcock.png
Show 13 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1984 UV
- time of discovery or invention
- 1984-10-26
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1715239937861716
- orbital inclination
- 2.371089530476175
- periapsis
- 2.607629278130056
- apoapsis
- 3.687373253197401
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.147501265663728
- mean anomaly
- 107.3871488071533
- longitude of ascending node
- 72.19709019212068
- argument of periapsis
- 3.195076515934683
- absolute magnitude
- 12.11
- rotation period
- 7.05
- time of periapsis
- 2460392.0884649623
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
3174 Alcock (prov. designation: 1984 UV) is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's U.S. Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 26 October 1984. The likely C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.1 hours and measures approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. It was named after British amateur astronomer George Alcock (1912–2000).
Orbit and classification