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. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 March 1934
- Pronunciation
- / n ɪ ˈ r aɪ n ɑː /
- Named after
- Nerine , ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1934 FG · 1955 FA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Phocaea
- Observation arc
- 84.16 yr (30,740 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7778 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8368 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3073 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.50 yr (1,280 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 346.11 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 52.32 / day
- Inclination
- 24.663°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 358.33°
- Argument of perihelion
- 196.24°
- Mean diameter
- 10.68 ± 0.72 km , 13.02 ± 0.6 km , 13.272 ± 0.213 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Nerine
- Followed by
- Q137971
- Follows
- 1317 Silvretta
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 13.272
- Orbital period
- 1281.331856504708
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1955 FA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1934-03-24
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.308742324203306
- periapsis
- 1.84115614283736
- apoapsis
- 2.776328505569252
- orbital inclination
- 24.62175027498684
- longitude of ascending node
- 358.218762874587
- argument of periapsis
- 196.5636303990742
- mean anomaly
- 52.92185713898802
- rotation period
- 2.528
- absolute magnitude
- 12.25
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.202528526663234
- Commons category
- 1318 Nerina
- albedo
- 0.176
- time of periapsis
- 2460812.1376070622
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1318 Nerina (/nɪˈraɪnɑː/), provisional designation 1934 FG, is a Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 March 1934, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The possibly metallic X-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 2.5 hours. It was named for the flowering plant Nerine, also known as "Guernsey lily" or "Jersey lily".
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1318 Nerina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.