496 Gryphia

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

25 October 1902

Pronunciation

/ ˈ ɡ r ɪ f i ə /

Alternative designations

1902 KH; 1931 TB;, 1931 TN2; 1933 FQ;, 1936 CB; 1951 WS2

Observation arc

112.79 yr (41198 d)

Aphelion

2.3726 AU (354.94 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0255 AU (303.01 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.1990 AU (328.97 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.26 yr (1191.1 d )

Mean anomaly

267.309 °

Mean motion

0° 18 8.064 / day

Inclination

3.7916°

Longitude of ascending node

207.608°

Argument of perihelion

258.567°

Mean radius

7.735 ± 0.55 km

Synodic rotation period

18.0 h (0.75 d )

Geometric albedo

0.1676 ± 0.027

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Part of

Flora family

Named after

Andreas Gryphius

Followed by

497 Iva

Follows

495 Eulalia

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

14.403

Orbital period

1191.138475490478

via Wikidata · CC0