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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1906
- Pronunciation
- / k r oʊ ˈ eɪ ʃ ( i ) ə /
- Named after
- Croatia , (part of Austria-Hungary )
- Alternative designations
- 1906 TM · 1936 WM, 1947 RA · 1953 RF 1 , 1953 VR 1 · 1953 VU, A912 HH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Croatia
- Observation arc
- 111.34 yr (40,666 d )
- Aphelion
- 3.2583 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.0205 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1394 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.56 yr (2,032 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 161.92 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 37.92 / day
- Inclination
- 10.808°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 177.60°
- Argument of perihelion
- 223.88°
- Dimensions
- 84.44 ± 22.49 km , 87.54 ± 2.5 km , 87.66 km (derived) , 91.75 ± 1.30 km , 93.617 ± 1.015 km , 96.491 ± 2.300 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Croatia
- Followed by
- 590 Tomyris
- Follows
- 588 Achilles
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 93.617
- Orbital period
- 2025.874196411611
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- August Kopff
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A912 HH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1906-03-03
- orbital inclination
- 10.79903408233875
- albedo
- 0.041
- rotation period
- 24.932
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.32
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0403044869764944
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.133353283039702
- periapsis
- 3.007065086450673
- apoapsis
- 3.259641479628732
- longitude of ascending node
- 177.4231602715256
- argument of periapsis
- 229.7684971262674
- mean anomaly
- 328.6628153157334
- time of periapsis
- 2461176.8477606666
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
589 Croatia, provisional designation 1906 TM, is a dark asteroid and parent body of the Croatia family, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 88 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered in 1906, by astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory, and later named for the independent country of Croatia, then part of Austria-Hungary.
Discovery
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “589 Croatia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.