Image by Zarah on Pixabay · Pixabay License
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
- A. Patry
- Discovery site
- Nice Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 February 1939
- Named after
- Auguste Charlois (astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 DC · 1959 WE, 1963 UB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 78.10 yr (28,525 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0649 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2791 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6720 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.37 yr (1,595 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 16.619 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 32.52 / day
- Inclination
- 11.821°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 331.49°
- Argument of perihelion
- 165.25°
- Dimensions
- 20.30 ± 0.39 km , 23.68 km (derived) , 23.80 ± 2.8 km ( IRAS :11) , 24.507 ± 0.345 , 26.98 ± 0.64 km , 27.608 ± 0.373 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.866 ± 0.0003 h , 6.653 ± 0.008 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Auguste Charlois
- Followed by
- 1511 Daléra
- Follows
- 1509 Esclangona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 24.507
- Orbital period
- 1595.50619196638
- Image
- 001510-asteroid shape model (1510) Charlois.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- André Patry
- site of astronomical discovery
- Nice Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1963 UB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1939-02-22
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1496208407764134
- orbital inclination
- 11.82691199723775
- periapsis
- 2.272371425638469
- apoapsis
- 3.07200090755274
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.672186166595604
- mean anomaly
- 334.6545292831733
- longitude of ascending node
- 331.3181299055949
- argument of periapsis
- 164.5477367497395
- absolute magnitude
- 11.73
- Commons category
- 1510 Charlois
- albedo
- 0.118
- rotation period
- 5.866
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461112.830154075
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1510 Charlois (provisional designation 1939 DC) is a carbonaceous Eunomia asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 22 February 1939, by French astronomer André Patry at Nice Observatory in southeastern France, and later named after astronomer Auguste Charlois.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1510 Charlois” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.