File:762Pulcova-SwRI.gif · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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. N. Neujmin
- Discovery date
- 3 September 1913
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p ʊ l k ə v ə /
- Named after
- Pulkovo Heights
- Alternative designations
- 1913 SQ
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Pulcovian / p ʊ l ˈ k oʊ v i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 100.08 yr (36553 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4801 AU (520.62 Gm ) (Q)
- Perihelion
- 2.8291 AU (423.23 Gm) (q)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1546 AU (471.92 Gm) (a)
- Eccentricity
- 0.10319 (e)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.60 yr (2046.5 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 348.62 ° (M)
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 33.276 / day (n)
- Inclination
- 13.089° (i)
- Longitude of ascending node
- 305.76° (Ω)
- Argument of perihelion
- 189.54° (ω)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Pulkovo Heights
- Followed by
- 763 Cupido
- Follows
- 761 Brendelia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 147.343
- Radius
- 68.54
- Mass
- 1.40
- Orbital period
- 2044.44903578276
- Image
- 762 Pulcova Hubble.jpg
Show 21 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Grigory Neujmin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A913 RD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1913-09-03
- orbital inclination
- 13.10225383378172
- albedo
- 0.04
- Commons category
- 762 Pulcova
- rotation period
- 5.839
- asteroid spectral type
- F-type asteroid
- IPA transcription
- ˈpʊlkəvə
- density
- 0.90
- absolute magnitude
- 8.44
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1078483687210572
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.152476864293274
- periapsis
- 2.812487377048371
- apoapsis
- 3.492466351538178
- longitude of ascending node
- 305.5145980655853
- argument of periapsis
- 188.7089400913167
- mean anomaly
- 227.7682976638616
- time of periapsis
- 2461751.447156503
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
762 Pulcova is a main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Grigoriy N. Neujmin in 1913, and is named after Pulkovo Observatory, near Saint Petersburg. Pulcova is 137 km in diameter, and is a C-type asteroid, which means that it is dark in colouring with a carbonate composition.
Photometric observations of this asteroid from Leura, Australia during 2006 gave a light curve with a period of 5.8403 ± 0.0005 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This result is in agreement with previous studies.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “762 Pulcova” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.