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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 April 1929
- Named after
- Catriona (novel by, Robert Louis Stevenson )
- Alternative designations
- 1929 GD · 1926 RQ, A908 AC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 109.01 yr (39,815 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5946 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2522 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9234 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.00 yr (1,826 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 348.27 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 49.92 / day
- Inclination
- 16.523°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 356.52°
- Argument of perihelion
- 82.666°
- Dimensions
- 36.71 ± 0.53 km , 38.741 ± 0.281 km , 39.02 km (derived) , 39.04 km , 39.12 ± 0.7 km , 41.010 ± 0.396 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.83 ± 0.01 h , 8.832 h , 10.49 h , 12.06 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Catriona
- Followed by
- 1117 Reginita
- Follows
- 1115 Sabauda
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 38.741
- Orbital period
- 1830.265124654268
- Image
- 001116-asteroid shape model (1116) Catriona.png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1929 GD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-04-05
- orbital inclination
- 16.54581275062695
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.224095890218801
- periapsis
- 2.272052891889226
- apoapsis
- 3.584477221168
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.928265056528613
- mean anomaly
- 218.1592868418867
- longitude of ascending node
- 356.1829175366455
- argument of periapsis
- 83.48433751449231
- absolute magnitude
- 9.83
- albedo
- 0.155
- rotation period
- 8.832
- time of periapsis
- 2461721.6280848593
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1116 Catriona (prov. designation: 1929 GD) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 39 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 April 1929 by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The asteroid was likely named after the 1893-novel Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Classification and orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1116 Catriona” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.