2939 Coconino

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

21 February 1982

Named after

Coconino County , (U.S. county in Arizona)

Alternative designations

1982 DP · 1952 HU 3 , 1976 ST 4

Minor planet category

main-belt · Nysa

Observation arc

40.69 yr (14,861 days)

Aphelion

2.8399 AU

Perihelion

2.0394 AU

Semi major axis

2.4396 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.81 yr (1,392 days)

Mean anomaly

47.539 °

Inclination

3.9489°

Longitude of ascending node

349.97°

Argument of perihelion

237.31°

Dimensions

5.607 ± 0.177 km , 9.40 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

4.681 38 ± 0.000 04 h

Geometric albedo

0.20 (assumed) , 0.512 ± 0.043

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Coconino County

Followed by

2940 Bacon

Follows

2938 Hopi

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

5.607

Orbital period

1391.048880716366

via Wikidata · CC0