572 Rebekka
Also known as (572) Rebekka, Rebekka, (572) 1905 RB
main-belt asteroid
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
- Paul Götz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 19 September 1905
- Pronunciation
- / r ɪ ˈ b ɛ k ə / , German: [ ʁeːˈbɛkaː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1905 RB
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Article
572 Rebekka is a minor planet orbiting the Sun, which was discovered on September 19, 1905, by a German astronomer Paul Götz in Heidelberg. It was named after a young lady from Heidelberg, and may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1905 RB.
Observations performed at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado during 2007 produced a light curve with a period of 5.656 ± 0.002 hours with a brightness range of 0.40 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This agrees with the 5.65 hour period measured in 1998.