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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 October 1939
- Named after
- Gunnar Malmquist , (astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 UG · 1929 TG, 1932 OB · 1972 TK, A909 TC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Flora
- Observation arc
- 87.47 yr (31,948 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6694 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7846 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2270 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.32 yr (1,214 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 203.99 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 47.76 / day
- Inclination
- 5.1939°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 16.133°
- Argument of perihelion
- 304.49°
- Dimensions
- 9.55 ± 0.49 km , 10.040 ± 0.134 km , 10.338 ± 0.071 km , 10.80 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 14.044 ± 0.0244 h , 14.0591 h , 14.077 ± 0.004 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Gunnar Malmquist
- Followed by
- 1528 Conrada
- Follows
- 1526 Mikkeli
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 10.04
- Orbital period
- 1214.079271571155
- Image
- 1527Malmquista (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Yrjö Väisälä
- site of astronomical discovery
- Iso-Heikkilä Observatory
- provisional designation
- A909 TC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1939-10-18
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1982362622805173
- orbital inclination
- 5.190265993803487
- periapsis
- 1.785715034008567
- apoapsis
- 2.668751911797217
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.227233472902892
- mean anomaly
- 13.6059844756613
- longitude of ascending node
- 16.09061216001882
- argument of periapsis
- 304.3705633118939
- absolute magnitude
- 12.05
- albedo
- 0.307
- rotation period
- 14.077
- time of periapsis
- 2460954.6146007744
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1527 Malmquista (provisional designation 1939 UG) is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 18 October 1939, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland. It was named for the Swedish astronomer Gunnar Malmquist.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1527 Malmquista” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.