1147 Stavropolis

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

G. Neujmin

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

11 June 1929

Named after

Stavropol (Russian city)

Alternative designations

1929 LF · 1946 KA

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) background

Observation arc

87.80 yr (32,068 days)

Aphelion

2.7977 AU

Perihelion

1.7439 AU

Semi major axis

2.2708 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.42 yr (1,250 days)

Mean anomaly

271.25 °

Mean motion

0° 17 16.8 / day

Inclination

3.8806°

Longitude of ascending node

265.22°

Argument of perihelion

15.742°

Mean diameter

10.94 ± 0.29 km , 13.430 ± 0.197 km , 13.898 ± 0.157 km , 13.92 ± 0.84 km , 14.89 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

5.660 70 ± 0.000 03 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

13.43

Orbital period

1249.488559501366

Image

001147-asteroid shape model (1147) Stavropolis.png

via Wikidata · CC0