File:444_Gyptis.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
- Jérôme Eugène Coggia
- Discovery date
- 31 March 1899
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ dʒ ɪ p t ɪ s /
- Named after
- Gyptis
- Alternative designations
- 1899 EL
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Gyptidian
- Observation arc
- 116.54 yr (42568 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.25674 AU (487.201 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.28337 AU (341.587 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.77005 AU (414.394 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.61 yr (1684.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 11.8852 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 49.615 / day
- Inclination
- 10.2775°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 195.716°
- Argument of perihelion
- 154.984°
- Dimensions
- 179×150 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 445 Edna
- Follows
- 443 Photographica
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 159.331
- Mass
- 12.5
- Orbital period
- 1684.645696632688
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Jérôme Eugène Coggia
- site of astronomical discovery
- Marseille Observatory
- provisional designation
- A899 PD
- time of discovery or invention
- 1899-03-31
- orbital inclination
- 10.27336677022291
- Commons category
- 444 Gyptis
- albedo
- 0.051
- rotation period
- 6.214
- asteroid spectral type
- C-type asteroid
- absolute magnitude
- 8.07
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1733806189768458
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.770810129737326
- periapsis
- 2.290405354376154
- apoapsis
- 3.251214905098498
- longitude of ascending node
- 195.5906130765361
- argument of periapsis
- 154.7971243988537
- mean anomaly
- 18.80644859491966
- time of periapsis
- 2460912.4938814044
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
444 Gyptis is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Jérôme Eugène Coggia on March 31, 1899, in Marseille. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.77 AU with a moderate eccentricity of 0.176 and an orbital period of 4.61 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 10.3°. It is spinning with a rotation period of 6.214 hours.
This is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of carbonaceous material. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration. In 2004, Kochetova estimated Gyptis to have a mass of 1.25×10 kg with a high density of 5.53 g/cm. In 2012 Carry estimated the mass as (1.06±0.28)×10 kg with a high density of 4.55±1.23 g/cm.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “444 Gyptis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.