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
- 24 November 1973
- Named after
- Lugano (Swiss city)
- Alternative designations
- 1973 WD · 1936 LC, 1949 KE 1 · 1951 WX, 1964 VA 1 · 1970 AG 1 , 1970 AL 1 · 1970 CD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Adeona
- Observation arc
- 61.33 yr (22,399 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0395 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3131 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6763 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.38 yr (1,599 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 291.44 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 30.36 / day
- Inclination
- 10.254°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 265.17°
- Argument of perihelion
- 255.13°
- Dimensions
- 23.48 ± 8.63 km , 24.56 km (derived) , 24.81 ± 0.8 km , 27.95 ± 0.87 km , 31.037 ± 0.137 km , 31.43 ± 8.87 km , 33.704 ± 0.067 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 19.594 ± 0.007 h , 19.651 ± 0.015 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lugano
- Followed by
- 1937 Locarno
- Follows
- 1935 Lucerna
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 33.905
- Orbital period
- 1596.928281650193
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Paul Wild
- site of astronomical discovery
- Zimmerwald Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1973 WD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1973-11-24
- asteroid family
- Adeona family
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1392102371367393
- orbital inclination
- 10.25476348676992
- periapsis
- 2.301557081336397
- apoapsis
- 3.045990439862475
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.673773760599436
- mean anomaly
- 247.3067082623074
- longitude of ascending node
- 265.113208027258
- argument of periapsis
- 254.9649603630905
- absolute magnitude
- 11.81
- albedo
- 0.031
- rotation period
- 19.651
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461500.397513134
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1936 Lugano, provisional designation 1973 WD, is a carbonaceous Adeonian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 24 November 1973, by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland. It was later named for the Swiss city of Lugano.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1936 Lugano” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.