File:33_Polyhymnia_orbit_on_01_Jan_2009.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
33 Polyhymnia is an asteroid located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is one of many rocky bodies that comprise the solar system's asteroid population.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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. Chacornac
- Discovery date
- 28 October 1854
- Pronunciation
- / p ɒ l i ˈ h ɪ m n i ə /
- Named after
- Polyhymnia
- Alternative designations
- A887 HA; 1938 FE;, 1953 AK; 1957 YL;, 1963 DG; 1976 YT 7
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Aphelion
- 3.832 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.916 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.874 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.873 yr (1779.77 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 107.070°
- Inclination
- 1.852°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 8.212°
- Argument of perihelion
- 338.828°
- Jupiter moid
- 1.589 AU
- Dimensions
- 54.39 ± 11.84 km (infrared) , 53.98 ± 0.91 km , 64 ± 6 km ( occultation )
- Synodic rotation period
- 18.608 88 ± 0.000 29 h
- Spectral type
- S or Sq
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Polyhymnia
- Followed by
- 34 Circe
- Follows
- 32 Pomona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 52.929
- Orbital period
- 1779.765101390571
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Jean Chacornac
- provisional designation
- A854 UB
- time of discovery or invention
- 1854-10-28
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 1.852031937130418
- site of astronomical discovery
- Paris Observatory, PSL University
- Commons category
- 33 Polyhymnia
- albedo
- 0.24
- rotation period
- 18.608
- absolute magnitude
- 8.48
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.3332669199362642
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.874150506772792
- periapsis
- 1.916291219947371
- apoapsis
- 3.832009793598214
- longitude of ascending node
- 8.21165378080894
- argument of periapsis
- 338.8280945767293
- mean anomaly
- 107.0697469128187
- time of periapsis
- 2460471.169447305
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
33 Polyhymnia is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Jean Chacornac on 28 October 1854 and named after Polyhymnia, the Greek Muse of sacred hymns.
Rotation
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “33 Polyhymnia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.