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
- G. Kulin
- Discovery site
- Konkoly Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 December 1936
- Named after
- Salonta (Romanian city)
- Alternative designations
- 1936 YA · 1933 FX 1 , 1934 NU · 1954 CQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 84.20 yr (30,754 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3424 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9502 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1463 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.58 yr (2,038 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 328.13 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 35.76 / day
- Inclination
- 13.889°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 260.42°
- Argument of perihelion
- 29.895°
- Dimensions
- 52.73 ± 17.17 km , 53.769 ± 0.269 km , 60.95 ± 0.91 km , 62.90 ± 1.6 km , 62.927 ± 0.418 km , 65.53 ± 15.83 km , 72.06 ± 0.75 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.861 ± 0.003 h , 8.870 ± 0.004 h , 8.8716 ± 0.0007 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Salonta
- Followed by
- 1437 Diomedes
- Follows
- Q139148
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 53.769
- Orbital period
- 2039.843676404219
- Image
- 1436Salonta (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- György Kulin
- site of astronomical discovery
- Konkoly Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1954 CQ
- time of discovery or invention
- 1936-12-11
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.06047512467286993
- absolute magnitude
- 10.29
- orbital inclination
- 13.88906401780766
- periapsis
- 2.95738084949158
- apoapsis
- 3.338100892728091
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.147740871109836
- mean anomaly
- 135.5474644138128
- longitude of ascending node
- 260.3844953552734
- argument of periapsis
- 32.22893525776644
- albedo
- 0.028
- rotation period
- 8.87
- time of periapsis
- 2460232.45656073
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1436 Salonta, provisional designation 1936 YA, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by György Kulin at the Konkoly Observatory in 1936, the asteroid was later named for the Romanian city of Salonta, the birthplace of the discoverer.
Discovery
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q139158” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.