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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. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 February 1932
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- 1932 CJ · 1947 XG, 1975 FE · A904 SB, A915 BD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora · background
- Observation arc
- 113.51 yr (41,461 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4883 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9390 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2136 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.29 yr (1,203 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 131.11 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 57.48 / day
- Inclination
- 4.4135°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 42.543°
- Argument of perihelion
- 23.720°
- Mean diameter
- 9.86 ± 0.34 km , 11.43 ± 0.9 km , 11.76 ± 0.30 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.573 ± 0.001 h , 5.574 ± 0.003 h , 5.5750 ± 0.0005 h , 5.575 ± 0.001 h , 5.575 h , 5.575 h , 5.575 56 ± 0.000 01 h , 5.575 57 ± 0.000 02 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q137100
- Follows
- Q137079
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 9.86
- Orbital period
- 1202.685328907612
- Image
- 001219-asteroid shape model (1219) Britta.png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Wolf
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A915 BD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1932-02-06
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1242695632284801
- orbital inclination
- 4.410608158214777
- periapsis
- 1.938233825483703
- apoapsis
- 2.488319698519009
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.213276762001356
- mean anomaly
- 249.2336150089133
- longitude of ascending node
- 42.50053415793928
- argument of periapsis
- 23.81259485538964
- absolute magnitude
- 11.7
- Commons category
- 1219 Britta
- albedo
- 0.346
- rotation period
- 5.575
- time of periapsis
- 2461370.5475171246
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1219 Britta, provisional designation 1932 CJ, is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 6 February 1932, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southern Germany. The likely elongated S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.57 hours. Any reference of its name to a person is unknown.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1219 Britta” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.