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. Soulié
- Discovery site
- Bordeaux Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 September 1967
- Named after
- Floirac, Gironde , (location of observatory)
- Alternative designations
- 1967 RA · 1927 RB, 1927 SN · 1934 XC, 1937 RP · 1952 DO 1 , 1957 TC · 1957 US, 1962 CN · A914 WD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Flora
- Observation arc
- 89.65 yr (32,745 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6074 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8500 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2287 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.33 yr (1,215 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 331.80 °
- Inclination
- 4.5502°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 159.80°
- Argument of perihelion
- 248.92°
- Dimensions
- 8.617 ± 0.075 , 8.701 ± 0.119 km , 8.729 km , 8.73 km (taken) , 9.50 ± 0.30 km , 10.08 ± 0.34 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.775 ± 0.001 h , 12.28 ± 0.06 h
- Geometric albedo
- 0.252 ± 0.020 , 0.258 ± 0.060 , 0.2711 , 0.2994 ± 0.0420 , 0.302 ± 0.021
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Floirac
- Followed by
- 1737 Severny
- Follows
- 1735 ITA
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 8.617
- Orbital period
- 1214.940790419554
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Guy Soulié
- site of astronomical discovery
- Bordeaux Observatory
- provisional designation
- A914 WD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1967-09-06
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1692404123539292
- orbital inclination
- 4.552965719139007
- periapsis
- 1.851170779532898
- apoapsis
- 2.605403197008565
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.228286988270732
- mean anomaly
- 140.2986585092265
- longitude of ascending node
- 159.6833907707096
- argument of periapsis
- 249.1205111863364
- absolute magnitude
- 12.37
- albedo
- 0.302
- rotation period
- 6.775
- time of periapsis
- 2460527.0151026
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1736 Floirac, provisional designation 1967 RA, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8.7 kilometer in diameter.
It was discovered on 6 September 1967, by French astronomer Guy Soulié at Bordeaux Observatory in southwestern France, who named it after the French town of Floirac.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q143006” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.