File:000179-asteroid_shape_model_(179)_Klytaemnestra.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 179 Klytaemnestra is referenced by 11 other articles, and connects out to asteroid family, asteroid spectral type and asteroid belt.
It sits within the topics Astronomical objects discovered in 1877, Clytemnestra and Discoveries by James Craig Watson.
Its subject is documented across 43 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
Key facts
- Discovered by
- J. C. Watson
- Discovery site
- Ann Arbor Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 November 1877
- Pronunciation
- / k l ɪ t ɪ m ˈ n ɛ s t r ə /
- Named after
- Clytemnestra , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- A877 VC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Telramund
- Observation arc
- 119.12 yr (43,507 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3085 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6356 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9720 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.12 yr (1,871 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 194.50 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 32.64 / day
- Inclination
- 7.8163°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 251.91°
- Argument of perihelion
- 103.64°
- Mean diameter
- 64.25 ± 0.79 km , 69.946 ± 0.518 km , 72.786 ± 0.799 km , 75.02 ± 3.21 km , 77.69 ± 1.4 km , 90.17 ± 1.53 km
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Clytemnestra
- Followed by
- 180 Garumna
- Follows
- 178 Belisana
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 69.946
- Orbital period
- 1872.115397153214
Show 19 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- James Craig Watson
- site of astronomical discovery
- Detroit Observatory
- time of discovery or invention
- 1877-11-11
- asteroid spectral type
- S-type asteroid
- orbital inclination
- 7.817421374916171
- albedo
- 0.198
- Commons category
- 179 Klytaemnestra
- provisional designation
- A877 VC
- rotation period
- 11.173
- absolute magnitude
- 8.26
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.1092656474535693
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.972734514727199
- periapsis
- 2.647916753267959
- apoapsis
- 3.297552276186438
- longitude of ascending node
- 251.8217299267735
- argument of periapsis
- 104.494884937746
- mean anomaly
- 11.69660210172924
- time of periapsis
- 2460939.6739197527
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
179 Klytaemnestra is a stony Telramund asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 11 November 1877, by Canadian-American astronomer James Craig Watson at the old Ann Arbor Observatory in Michigan, United States. It was his last discovery three years before his death. The transitional S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.17 hours. It was named after Clytemnestra from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “179 Klytaemnestra” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.