File:000731-asteroid_shape_model_(731)_Sorga.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 731 Sorga is referenced by 6 other articles, and connects out to asteroid spectral type, asteroid family and list of discoverers of minor planets credited by the Minor Planet Center.
It sits within the topics Astronomical objects discovered in 1912, Background asteroids and CD-type asteroids (Tholen).
Its subject is documented across 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
- A. Massinger
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 April 1912
- Named after
- "the heavens" , ( Indonesian language )
- Alternative designations
- A912 GH · 1940 WP, 1912 OQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 104.24 yr (38,075 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4090 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5656 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9873 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.16 yr (1,886 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 201.03 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 27.24 / day
- Inclination
- 10.689°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 46.136°
- Argument of perihelion
- 288.62°
- Mean diameter
- 34.597 ± 0.409 km 38.93 ± 0.44 km 41.78 ± 2.0 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 8.184 ± 0.005 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 732 Tjilaki
- Follows
- 730 Athanasia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 34.597
- Orbital period
- 1883.143194767013
- Image
- 731Sorga (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Adam Massinger
- site of astronomical discovery
- Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- provisional designation
- A912 GH
- time of discovery or invention
- 1912-04-15
- orbital inclination
- 10.69749785068807
- Commons category
- 731 Sorga
- albedo
- 0.209
- rotation period
- 8.184
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 9.7
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.143457533217698
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.984397119814619
- periapsis
- 2.556262870864011
- apoapsis
- 3.412531368765227
- longitude of ascending node
- 46.07945184654639
- argument of periapsis
- 287.630785951846
- mean anomaly
- 223.9776155240122
- time of periapsis
- 2461712.0267435056
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
731 Sorga (prov. designation: A912 GH or 1912 OQ) is a highly elongated background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 15 April 1912, by German astronomer Adam Massinger at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The C-type (CD) and X-type asteroid (Xe) has a rotation period of 8.2 hours. It was named Sorga, meaning "the heavens" in the Indonesian language.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “731 Sorga” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.