File:Hidalgoanimation2003.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
- W. Baade
- Discovery site
- Bergedorf Obs.
- Discovery date
- 31 October 1920
- Pronunciation
- / h ɪ ˈ d æ l ɡ oʊ /
- Named after
- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla , (Mexican revolutionary)
- Alternative designations
- 1920 HZ · A920 UB
- Minor planet category
- centaur · main-belt , unusual
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Observation arc
- 97.97 yr (35,784 d)
- Aphelion
- 9.5345 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9474 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.7410 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 13.76 yr (5,024 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 13.078 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 4 18.12 / day
- Inclination
- 42.521°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 21.420°
- Argument of perihelion
- 56.651°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla
- Followed by
- Q158171
- Follows
- 943 Begonia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- centaur
- Diameter
- 38.0
- Orbital period
- 5007.693155578201
- Image
- 944Hidalgo-position.png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Walter Baade
- site of astronomical discovery
- Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory
- provisional designation
- A920 UB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1920-10-31
- orbital inclination
- 42.53593406738054
- Commons category
- 944 Hidalgo
- albedo
- 0.06
- absolute magnitude
- 10.55
- rotation period
- 10.063
- asteroid spectral type
- D-type asteroid
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.6622230478106673
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 5.728305724964734
- periapsis
- 1.934889648987294
- apoapsis
- 9.521721800942176
- longitude of ascending node
- 21.36316817210909
- argument of periapsis
- 56.59815243071501
- mean anomaly
- 185.3374947174508
- time of periapsis
- 2463430.10064511
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
944 Hidalgo /hɪˈdælɡoʊ/ is a centaur and unusual object on an eccentric, cometary-like orbit between the asteroid belt and the outer Solar System, approximately 52 kilometers (32 miles) in diameter. Discovered by German astronomer Walter Baade in 1920, it is the first member of the dynamical class of centaurs ever to be discovered. The dark D-type object has a rotation period of 10.1 hours and likely an elongated shape. It was named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
Discovery and naming
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “944 Hidalgo” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.