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
- P. Wild
- Discovery site
- Zimmerwald Obs.
- Discovery date
- 19 September 1965
- Pronunciation
- / ɡ l ə ˈ r oʊ n ə /
- Named after
- Glarus ( Swiss canton )
- Alternative designations
- 1965 SC · 1926 UA, 1931 RB 1 · 1942 PD, 1945 EA · 1948 QN, 1948 RD 1 · 1954 TB, 1954 UB 2 · 1959 PG, 1960 XD · 1965 UX, A909 UA · A915 XC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Themis
- Observation arc
- 107.45 yr (39,245 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7148 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6004 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1576 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.61 yr (2,049 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 62.841 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 32.52 / day
- Inclination
- 2.6367°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 93.570°
- Argument of perihelion
- 316.57°
- Dimensions
- 31.52 ± 0.50 km , 33.93 ± 4.9 km ( IRAS :6) , 36.75 ± 0.93 km , 37.850 ± 0.194 , 42.007 ± 0.515 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Canton of Glarus
- Followed by
- Q142382
- Follows
- Q142362
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 37.85
- Orbital period
- 2058.907185774933
- Image
- 001687-asteroid shape model (1687) Glarona.png
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Paul Wild
- site of astronomical discovery
- Zimmerwald Observatory
- provisional designation
- A915 XC
- time of discovery or invention
- 1965-09-19
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1679540962728672
- albedo
- 0.141
- absolute magnitude
- 10.76
- orbital inclination
- 2.630512223119895
- periapsis
- 2.635357362283836
- apoapsis
- 3.699286797320354
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.167322079802095
- mean anomaly
- 227.0921285587762
- longitude of ascending node
- 93.46158927513706
- argument of periapsis
- 317.3229651283975
- rotation period
- 6.498
- time of periapsis
- 2461760.62492099
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1687 Glarona (prov. designation: 1965 SC) is a stony Themis asteroid approximately 34 kilometers in diameter from the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland, on 19 September 1965. It was later named after the Swiss Canton of Glarus.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q142366” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.