2010 Chebyshev

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

B. A. Burnasheva

Discovery site

Crimean Astrophysical Obs.

Discovery date

13 October 1969

Named after

Pafnuty Chebyshev , (Russian mathematician)

Alternative designations

1969 TL 4 · 1931 VA, 1948 YA · 1958 TF 1

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( outer )

Observation arc

85.41 yr (31,195 days)

Aphelion

3.6737 AU

Perihelion

2.5039 AU

Semi major axis

3.0888 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.43 yr (1,983 days)

Mean anomaly

271.09 °

Mean motion

0° 10 53.76 / day

Inclination

2.3971°

Longitude of ascending node

8.5512°

Argument of perihelion

33.208°

Dimensions

24.649 ± 0.194

Geometric albedo

0.065 ± 0.012

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Pafnuty Chebyshev

Followed by

2011 Veteraniya

Follows

2009 Voloshina

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

24.649

Orbital period

1980.494223807985

via Wikidata · CC0