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
- C. Torres , S. Barros
- Discovery site
- Cerro El Roble Stn.
- Discovery date
- 1 December 1975
- Named after
- Pedro de Valdivia , (Spanish conquistador )
- Alternative designations
- 1975 XG · 1935 CM, 1952 DJ 2 · 1953 QS, 1969 EB 1 · 1969 FC, 1973 FX 1 · 1979 UA 1 , 1990 FO 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 81.74 yr (29,856 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0836 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1352 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6094 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1,540 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 142.32 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 1.68 / day
- Inclination
- 10.287°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 151.13°
- Argument of perihelion
- 91.480°
- Mean diameter
- 9.13 ± 0.43 km , 10.73 ± 0.64 km , 11.679 ± 0.172 km , 17.52 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 4.096 ± 0.0005 h , 4.096 ± 0.001 h , 4.098 ± 0.001 h , 8.191 ± 0.0001 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Pedro de Valdivia
- Followed by
- Q530233
- Follows
- 2740 Tsoj
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 11.679
- Orbital period
- 1537.960191736041
- Image
- 002741-asteroid shape model (2741) Valdivia.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Sergio Barros
- provisional designation
- 1990 FO3
- time of discovery or invention
- 1975-12-01
- site of astronomical discovery
- Cerro El Roble Observatory
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1827889567103095
- longitude of ascending node
- 151.0841257749181
- argument of periapsis
- 90.97681060891885
- absolute magnitude
- 12.01
- orbital inclination
- 10.29553678260204
- periapsis
- 2.130911133522648
- apoapsis
- 3.084170456526957
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.607540795024803
- mean anomaly
- 124.7510450014879
- albedo
- 0.205
- rotation period
- 4.098
- time of periapsis
- 2460467.549608084
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
- Commons category
- 2741 Valdivia
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2741 Valdivia (prov. designation: 1975 XG) is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 December 1975, by Chilean astronomers Carlos Torres and Sergio Barros at the Cerro El Roble Station northwest of Santiago de Chile. The asteroid was named after Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q906851” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.