875 Nymphe

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

19 May 1917

Pronunciation

/ ˈ n ɪ m f iː /

Alternative designations

1917 CF

Adjectives

Nymphean / n ɪ m ˈ f iː ə n /

Observation arc

98.37 yr (35928 days)

Aphelion

2.9403 AU (439.86 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1660 AU (324.03 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.5531 AU (381.94 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

4.08 yr (1490.1 d )

Mean anomaly

43.2941 °

Mean motion

0° 14 29.76 / day

Inclination

14.575°

Longitude of ascending node

196.094°

Argument of perihelion

117.430°

Earth moid

1.19548 AU (178.841 Gm)

Jupiter moid

2.47772 AU (370.662 Gm)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

nymph

Followed by

Q157568

Follows

874 Rotraut

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

14.107

Orbital period

1492.020820576847

Image

875Nymphe (Lightcurve Inversion).png

via Wikidata · CC0