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
- P. Parchomenko
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 August 1929
- Named after
- Grigory Neujmin , (Soviet astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 PH · 1926 AE, A914 WE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 91.40 yr (33,384 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2714 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7734 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0224 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.25 yr (1,919 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 204.95 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 15.36 / day
- Inclination
- 8.6174°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 269.22°
- Argument of perihelion
- 139.74°
- Mean diameter
- 30.99 ± 7.65 km , 32.57 ± 0.72 km , 34.43 ± 0.79 km , 34.576 ± 0.196 km , 34.76 ± 1.4 km , 34.80 km (derived) , 39.246 ± 0.426 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.0844 ± 0.0006 h , 5.089 ± 0.004 h , 7.61 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Grigory Neujmin
- Followed by
- Q136265
- Follows
- Q136226
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 34.576
- Orbital period
- 1921.244263305071
- Image
- 001129-asteroid shape model (1129) Neujmina.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Praskov′ja Georgievna Parchomenko
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A914 WE
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-08-08
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.08617269970313056
- orbital inclination
- 8.620744138350172
- periapsis
- 2.763886680049458
- apoapsis
- 3.285148360054008
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.024517520051734
- mean anomaly
- 47.71121362751808
- longitude of ascending node
- 269.1798920582532
- argument of periapsis
- 139.8564867473165
- absolute magnitude
- 10.28
- Commons category
- 1129 Neujmina
- albedo
- 0.138
- rotation period
- 5.0844
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460745.875290341
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1129 Neujmina (prov. designation: 1929 PH) is an Eos asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 August 1929, by astronomer Praskoviya Parchomenko at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.1 hours and measures approximately 34 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was named after Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1129 Neujmina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.