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
- V. Albitzkij
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 7 September 1924
- Pronunciation
- / m oʊ t ˈ s ɑːr t i ə / , / m oʊ ˈ z ɑːr t i ə /
- Named after
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , (Austrian composer)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 SS · 1971 DD 2 , 1999 DK 7
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 92.74 yr (33,873 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8959 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.6899 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2929 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.47 yr (1,268 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 303.07 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 2.04 / day
- Inclination
- 3.9709°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 304.50°
- Argument of perihelion
- 18.807°
- Mean diameter
- 7.919 ± 0.047 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Followed by
- 1035 Amata
- Follows
- 1033 Simona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 7.919
- Orbital period
- 1268.233210078221
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Vladimir Albitsky
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A924 RK
- time of discovery or invention
- 1924-09-07
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.2628183900231316
- absolute magnitude
- 12.12
- orbital inclination
- 3.96991797367008
- periapsis
- 1.690343452308997
- apoapsis
- 2.895618621167137
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.292981036738067
- mean anomaly
- 74.83079697330268
- longitude of ascending node
- 304.4542517525566
- argument of periapsis
- 18.87369700769298
- albedo
- 0.25
- rotation period
- 460.0
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460736.880828172
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1034 Mozartia, provisional designation 1924 SS, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 September 1924, by Soviet Vladimir Albitsky at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1034 Mozartia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.