175 Andromache

Also known as (175) Andromache, Andromache

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: J. C. Watson
Discovery date: 1 October 1877
Pronunciation: / æ n ˈ d r ɒ m ə k iː /
Named after: Andromache
Alternative designations: A877 TA; 1893 KA;, 1895 XB; 1946 MB;, 1946 OD
Minor planet category: Main belt
Observation arc: 138.18 yr (50472 d)
Aphelion: 3.9264 AU (587.38 Gm )
Perihelion: 2.4442 AU (365.65 Gm)
Semi major axis: 3.1853 AU (476.51 Gm)
Orbital period sidereal: 5.69 yr (2076.5 d )
Mean anomaly: 35.697 °
Mean motion: 0° 10 24.132 / day
Inclination: 3.2184°
Longitude of ascending node: 21.353°
Argument of perihelion: 320.41°
Earth moid: 1.43641 AU (214.884 Gm)
Jupiter moid: 1.4787 AU (221.21 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter: 94.532
Orbital period: 2077.891145205084

Show 15 more facts

provisional designation: A877 TA
time of discovery or invention: 1877-10-01
orbital inclination: 3.217621988880807
albedo: 0.094
Commons category: 175 Andromache
rotation period: 8.324
absolute magnitude: 8.62
orbital eccentricity: 0.231501672439879
semi-major axis of an orbit: 3.18676161214931
periapsis: 2.44902096926954
apoapsis: 3.92450225502908
longitude of ascending node: 21.28498955712685
argument of periapsis: 319.6669065257179
mean anomaly: 266.2657351736472
time of periapsis: 2461541.5266635693

Sources (2)

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Article

175 Andromache is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on October 1, 1877. It was named after Andromache, wife of Hector during the Trojan War. Watson's telegram to Europe announcing the discovery became lost, and so notification did not arrive until several weeks later. As a result, another minor planet, later designated 176 Iduna, was initially assigned the number 175.

The initial orbital elements for 175 Andromache proved unreliable, and it was only in 1893 that an accurate ephemeris was produced. Because the orbital period is fairly close to being double that of the giant planet Jupiter, 175 Andromache initially became of interest in the study of gravitational perturbations. This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.19 AU with an eccentricity of 0.23 and an orbital period of 5.69 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.2° to the plane of the ecliptic.