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
- M. Itzigsohn
- Discovery site
- La Plata Obs.
- Discovery date
- 12 September 1950
- Named after
- Félix Aguilar (astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1950 RJ · 1952 BJ, 1972 XP 2 · 1976 YU 7 , 1977 AE 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Vestian
- Observation arc
- 66.54 yr (24,305 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6778 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0362 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3570 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.62 yr (1,322 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 189.20 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 20.64 / day
- Inclination
- 5.7893°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 124.24°
- Argument of perihelion
- 214.46°
- Dimensions
- 7.384 ± 0.156 km , 8.18 km (calculated)
- Synodic rotation period
- 2.478 ± 0.002 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 7.384
- Orbital period
- 1321.772682974673
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1977 AE1
- time of discovery or invention
- 1950-09-12
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1360012320124639
- orbital inclination
- 5.790591438174354
- periapsis
- 2.03650440279081
- apoapsis
- 2.677632881303531
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.35706864204717
- mean anomaly
- 286.2683570355161
- longitude of ascending node
- 124.1231245464648
- argument of periapsis
- 214.4430743112975
- absolute magnitude
- 12.82
- albedo
- 0.295
- rotation period
- 2.478
- time of periapsis
- 2461271.212420948
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
1800 Aguilar, provisional designation 1950 RJ, is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 12 September 1950, by Argentine astronomer Miguel Itzigsohn at La Plata Astronomical Observatory in Argentina. The asteroid was named after Argentine astronomer Félix Aguilar.