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
- Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )
- Discovery site
- Goethe Link Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 March 1955
- Named after
- Edwin Hubble (astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1955 FT · 1953 VN 1 , 1969 TB 1 · 1970 WA 1 , 1975 TT 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 62.22 yr (22,727 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7484 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5729 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1606 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.62 yr (2,052 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 81.951 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 31.44 / day
- Inclination
- 9.1064°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 46.406°
- Argument of perihelion
- 70.185°
- Dimensions
- 34.44 km (derived) , 34.53 ± 2.3 km , 38.471 ± 0.151 km , 39.54 ± 10.25 km , 40.10 ± 0.84 km , 40.615 ± 0.281 km , 45.82 ± 12.40 km , 46.92 ± 16.56 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 32.52 ± 0.02 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Edwin Hubble
- Followed by
- Q431532
- Follows
- Q147303
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 38.471
- Orbital period
- 2044.165742487241
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Indiana Asteroid Program
- site of astronomical discovery
- Goethe Link Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1975 TT3
- time of discovery or invention
- 1955-03-29
- orbital inclination
- 9.103686379564607
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1905750488568548
- periapsis
- 2.551457705975625
- apoapsis
- 3.752913569884402
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.152185637930013
- mean anomaly
- 250.2161374273053
- longitude of ascending node
- 46.32876591473079
- argument of periapsis
- 69.7481281633761
- absolute magnitude
- 11.7
- albedo
- 0.043
- rotation period
- 44.62
- time of periapsis
- 2461623.878919303
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2069 Hubble, provisional designation 1955 FT, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 March 1955, by the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory, United States, and named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble.
Orbit
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q522217” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.