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 July 1937
- Named after
- Somalia (African country)
- Alternative designations
- 1937 NK · 1929 RQ, 1954 UR 1 · 1957 HT, 1962 VF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background · Astraea
- Observation arc
- 79.73 yr (29,122 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0674 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0508 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5591 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.09 yr (1,495 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 184.53 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 26.88 / day
- Inclination
- 3.2883°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 327.25°
- Argument of perihelion
- 351.42°
- Dimensions
- 8.77 ± 1.58 km , 9.352 ± 0.133 km , 9.44 ± 0.36 km , 9.674 ± 0.089 km , 10.79 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.909 07 ± 0.000 05 h , 6.910 ± 0.001 h , 6.913 ± 0.001 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Somalia
- Country
- Somalia
- Followed by
- 1431 Luanda
- Follows
- Q139089
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 9.352
- Orbital period
- 1495.613685828575
- Image
- 001430-asteroid shape model (1430) Somalia.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Cyril V. Jackson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Union Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1962 VF
- time of discovery or invention
- 1937-07-05
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.199598215695873
- orbital inclination
- 3.292048021361829
- periapsis
- 2.048591582594552
- apoapsis
- 3.070316502738134
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.559454042666343
- mean anomaly
- 185.7820593328351
- longitude of ascending node
- 326.9499907106215
- argument of periapsis
- 351.9400309316902
- absolute magnitude
- 12.16
- Commons category
- 1430 Somalia
- albedo
- 0.153
- rotation period
- 6.913
- time of periapsis
- 2461724.2853788296
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1430 Somalia, provisional designation 1937 NK, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 July 1937, by astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. It was named for the African country of Somalia.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q139107” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.