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
Small body data
(1071) Brita
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.801 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.112
- Inclination
- 5.360 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.640 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- V. Albitzkij
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1924
- Named after
- Great Britain , (part of British Isles )
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RE · 1927 YB, 1947 BE · 1948 HB, 1948 JG · 1952 FJ, A910 EB · A917 SP
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 107.06 yr (39,102 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1065 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4954 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8009 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.69 yr (1,712 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 60.276 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 37.08 / day
- Inclination
- 5.3715°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 52.571°
- Argument of perihelion
- 27.137°
- Dimensions
- 39.45 ± 8.81 km , 40.266 ± 12.91 km , 50.14 km (derived) , 50.29 ± 1.4 km , 60.862 ± 0.536 km , 62.53 ± 0.65 km , 64.23 ± 19.39 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.8 h (poor) , 5.805 ± 0.002 h , 5.8158 ± 0.0003 h , 5.8169 ± 0.0003 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Great Britain
- Followed by
- 1072 Malva
- Follows
- 1070 Tunica
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 60.862
- Orbital period
- 1710.817358848271
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Vladimir Albitsky
- site of astronomical discovery
- Simeiz Observatory
- provisional designation
- A924 ER
- time of discovery or invention
- 1924-03-03
- orbital inclination
- 5.361289733487475
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1114430844217695
- periapsis
- 2.487455951286151
- apoapsis
- 3.111410947785662
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.799433449535907
- mean anomaly
- 328.4902073735738
- longitude of ascending node
- 52.46332602452298
- argument of periapsis
- 29.48628408518532
- absolute magnitude
- 10.67
- albedo
- 0.036
- rotation period
- 5.8169
- asteroid spectral type
- X-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2461150.2430561082
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1071 Brita, provisional designation 1924 RE, is a dark asteroid from the background population of the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 March 1924, by Soviet astronomer Vladimir Albitsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after the island of Great Britain.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1071 Brita” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.