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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 25 October 1921
- Alternative designations
- 1921 KP
- Observation arc
- 94.35 yr (34461 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1952 AU (478.00 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6140 AU (391.05 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9046 AU (434.52 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.95 yr (1808.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 68.7191 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 56.76 / day
- Inclination
- 2.6035°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 145.631°
- Argument of perihelion
- 223.081°
- Dimensions
- 39.5 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.465 h (0.2277 d )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Aslaug
- Followed by
- 963 Iduberga
- Follows
- 961 Gunnie
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Orbital period
- 1808.945531625785
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A921 UJ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1921-10-25
- orbital inclination
- 2.605211888310573
- Commons category
- 962 Aslög
- rotation period
- 5.465
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 11.45
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.09642304260175269
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.905481016376799
- periapsis
- 2.625325696556115
- apoapsis
- 3.185636336197483
- longitude of ascending node
- 145.4294603405303
- argument of periapsis
- 225.0931482253079
- mean anomaly
- 22.99064684783905
- time of periapsis
- 2460884.9754780983
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
962 Aslög is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth on 25 October 1921. Measurements of the lightcurve made in 2010 and 2011 give a rotation period of 5.465 ± 0.01 hours. It has a diameter of 39.5 km (24.5 mi).
This is a member of the dynamic Koronis family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “962 Aslög” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.