File:1102Pepita_(Lightcurve_Inversion).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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
- J. Comas Solà
- Discovery site
- Fabra Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 November 1928
- Named after
- Josep Comas i Solà , (discoverer himself)
- Alternative designations
- 1928 VA · 1960 WQ, A899 KB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 86.24 yr (31,499 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4119 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7311 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0715 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.38 yr (1,966 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 267.80 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 59.16 / day
- Inclination
- 15.828°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 216.59°
- Argument of perihelion
- 116.55°
- Mean diameter
- 30.88 ± 1.59 km , 36.632 ± 0.378 km , 39.27 ± 2.1 km , 41.02 ± 0.74 km , 41.733 ± 0.308 km
- Synodic rotation period
- 5.1 ± 0.1 h , 5.1040 ± 0.0003 h , 5.105 32 ± 0.000 05 h , 5.1054 ± 0.0002 h
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Josep Comas i Solà
- Followed by
- 1103 Sequoia
- Follows
- Q135934
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 36.632
- Orbital period
- 1965.677658106699
- Image
- 1102Pepita (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Josep Comas i Solà
- site of astronomical discovery
- Fabra Observatory
- provisional designation
- A899 KB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1928-11-05
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1106538328613916
- orbital inclination
- 15.81926865479818
- periapsis
- 2.731157553007508
- apoapsis
- 3.410787291247598
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.070972422127553
- mean anomaly
- 95.68025320279969
- longitude of ascending node
- 216.5255662095838
- argument of periapsis
- 118.5300129776688
- absolute magnitude
- 9.35
- albedo
- 0.229
- rotation period
- 5.1054
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460478.065177659
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1102 Pepita, provisional designation 1928 VA, is a stony background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 39 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 November 1928, by Catalan astronomer Josep Comas i Solà at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, Spain. It was named after the discoverer by the feminine form of his nickname. The asteroid has a rotation period of 5.1 hours.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q135947” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.