In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 8 inbound references to 1191 Alfaterna, and connects out to list of discoverers of minor planets credited by the Minor Planet Center, asteroid belt and Minor Planet Center.
It is catalogued under topics including Astronomical objects discovered in 1931, Discoveries by Luigi Volta and Fringilla asteroids.
Vinony links it to 34 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
Small body data
(1191) Alfaterna
- Orbit class
- Main-belt
- Semi-major axis
- 2.893 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.049
- Inclination
- 18.460 °
- Absolute magnitude
- 10.780 H
via Minor Planet Center
Key facts
- Discovered by
- L. Volta
- Discovery site
- Pino Torinese Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 February 1931
- Pronunciation
- / æ l f ə ˈ t ɜːr n ə /
- Named after
- Nuceria Alfaterna , (ancient Roman town)
- Alternative designations
- 1931 CA · 1965 AA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 85.79 yr (31,335 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0286 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7567 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8927 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.92 yr (1,797 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 178.01 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 1.08 / day
- Inclination
- 18.491°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 134.73°
- Argument of perihelion
- 53.411°
- Dimensions
- 38.92 ± 13.94 km , 42.01 km (derived) , 42.09 ± 3.0 km , 43.38 ± 14.16 km , 46.11 ± 0.63 km , 46.375 ± 0.836 km , 47.397 ± 0.175 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Nocera Inferiore
- Followed by
- 1192 Prisma
- Follows
- 1190 Pelagia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 47.397
- Orbital period
- 1796.937086251638
Show 17 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Luigi Volta
- site of astronomical discovery
- Turin Astrophysical Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1965 AA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1931-02-11
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.04873522568130752
- albedo
- 0.045
- orbital inclination
- 18.45966601398768
- periapsis
- 2.751636394767772
- apoapsis
- 3.033580232723828
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.8926083137458
- mean anomaly
- 53.04411452488247
- longitude of ascending node
- 134.5478135364211
- argument of periapsis
- 59.3490294517722
- absolute magnitude
- 10.78
- rotation period
- 193.9
- time of periapsis
- 2460735.7307316745
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1191 Alfaterna, provisional designation 1931 CA, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 43 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 February 1931, by Italian astronomer Luigi Volta at the Observatory of Turin in northwestern Italy. The asteroid was named for the ancient Roman town of Nuceria Alfaterna.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1191 Alfaterna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.