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
- 25 October 1973
- Named after
- Joachim Schubart , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1973 UD · 1928 DW, 1933 UX 1 · 1941 SU 1 , 1951 AH 1 · 1952 DS 2 , 1960 EF · 1968 FM, 1972 RO · 1972 TY 4
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda · Schubart
- Observation arc
- 89.27 yr (32,606 days)
- Aphelion
- 4.6512 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.3013 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.9762 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 7.93 yr (2,896 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 136.84 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 7 27.48 / day
- Inclination
- 1.6431°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 284.84°
- Argument of perihelion
- 181.75°
- Jupiter moid
- 0.5059 AU
- Dimensions
- 64.66 ± 23.84 km , 67.476 ± 0.504 km , 80.09 ± 2.0 km , 80.11 km (derived) , 80.13 ± 1.25 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Joachim Schubart
- Followed by
- 1912 Anubis
- Follows
- 1910 Mikhailov
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- 67.476
- Orbital period
- 2900.895772620438
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Paul Wild
- site of astronomical discovery
- Zimmerwald Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1973 UD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1973-10-25
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1730929530726987
- orbital inclination
- 1.644439007472863
- periapsis
- 3.291641217545155
- apoapsis
- 4.669691872495724
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.980666545020439
- mean anomaly
- 149.9826417491201
- longitude of ascending node
- 284.7727382540037
- argument of periapsis
- 181.8860960926965
- absolute magnitude
- 10.03
- albedo
- 0.035
- rotation period
- 11.915
- asteroid spectral type
- P-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2459791.933301621
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1911 Schubart, provisional designation 1973 UD, is a dark Hildian asteroid and parent body of the Schubart family, located in the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 25 October 1973, by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory, near Bern, Switzerland. The asteroid was named after German astronomer Joachim Schubart.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q145763” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.