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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 March 1929
- Named after
- Astrid of Sweden , (Queen consort of the Belgians)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 EB · 1949 QF 2 , 1954 UL 3 · 1964 VW, 1972 LM 1 · A917 SQ, A920 JA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) · Astrid
- Adjectives
- Astridian
- Observation arc
- 97.07 yr (35,455 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9171 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6577 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7874 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.65 yr (1,700 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 248.28 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 42.48 / day
- Inclination
- 1.0145°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 59.420°
- Argument of perihelion
- 234.37°
- Dimensions
- 33.28 ± 9.67 km , 34.60 km (derived) , 34.69 ± 2.1 km , 41.851 ± 0.278 km , 41.97 ± 0.72 km , 44.784 ± 0.912 km , 45.03 ± 10.37 km , 52.48 ± 0.40 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 41.851
- Orbital period
- 1702.50789929623
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- A920 JA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1929-03-10
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.04328005489677907
- albedo
- 0.031
- orbital inclination
- 1.010968092652554
- periapsis
- 2.669594509628249
- apoapsis
- 2.911128508203736
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.790361508915993
- mean anomaly
- 160.9196751684827
- longitude of ascending node
- 59.41778734850961
- argument of periapsis
- 236.926186995171
- absolute magnitude
- 11.11
- rotation period
- 10.228
- time of periapsis
- 2460239.4805052043
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Article
1128 Astrid, provisional designation 1929 EB, is a carbonaceous Astridian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It is the parent body of the Astrid family and measures approximately 40 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle on 10 March 1929, and later named for Astrid of Sweden, Queen consort of the Belgians.