In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 8 inbound references to 1644 Rafita, and connects out to asteroid family, list of minor planets: 1001–2000 and asteroid spectral type.
Vinony files it under Astronomical objects discovered in 1935, Discoveries by Rafael Carrasco Garrorena and Minor planet object articles (numbered).
Vinony links it to 37 Wikipedia language editions.
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
- R. Carrasco
- Discovery site
- Madrid Obs.
- Discovery date
- 16 December 1935
- Named after
- Rafael Carrasco, (discoverer's son)
- Alternative designations
- 1935 YA · 1939 XA, 1941 JB · 1949 JC, 1951 VF · 1955 TS, 1957 GD · 1959 UD, A906 RB · A916 BA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Rafita - interloper
- Observation arc
- 110.53 yr (40,371 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9426 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1539 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5483 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.07 yr (1,486 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 13.784 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 32.28 / day
- Inclination
- 7.0193°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 270.90°
- Argument of perihelion
- 197.05°
- Dimensions
- 13.958 ± 0.157 km , 15.405 ± 0.072 km , 15.48 km (taken) , 15.482 km , 17.69 ± 1.08 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.100 ± 0.002 h , 6.800 ± 0.004 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1645 Waterfield
- Follows
- 1643 Brown
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 13.958
- Orbital period
- 1485.168816250891
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Rafael Carrasco Garrorena
- provisional designation
- A916 BA
- site of astronomical discovery
- Royal Observatory of Madrid
- time of discovery or invention
- 1935-12-16
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1577355882256747
- absolute magnitude
- 11.64
- orbital inclination
- 7.029408747494534
- periapsis
- 2.145688700494545
- apoapsis
- 2.949359055291335
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.54752387789294
- mean anomaly
- 20.60709764707912
- longitude of ascending node
- 270.8272303483313
- argument of periapsis
- 197.2167833857584
- albedo
- 0.164
- rotation period
- 3.344
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460915.4860588363
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1644 Rafita, provisional designation 1935 YA, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It is the namesake of the Rafita family, a family of stony asteroids in the intermediate main-belt. However, Rafita is a suspected interloper in its own family. It was discovered on 16 December 1935, by Spanish astronomer Rafael Carrasco Garrorena at the Royal Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid in Spain, and named in memory of the discoverer's son.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1644 Rafita” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.