110 Lydia

Also known as (110) Lydia, Lydia

main-belt asteroid

Picture of the Day · NASA

Jupiter and Venus from Earth

2026-06-07

It was visible around the world. The sunset conjunction of Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) in 2012 was visible almost no matter where you lived on Earth. Anyone on our planet with a clear western horizon at sunset could see them. That year, a creative photographer traveled away from the town lights of Szubin, Poland to photograph a near closest approach of the two planets. The bright planets were then separated by only three degrees and his daughter struck a humorous pose. A faint red sunset still glowed in the background. Jupiter and Venus are together again this week after sunset, passing within a degree of each other about two days from today.

Key facts

Discovered by: Alphonse Borrelly
Discovery date: 19 April 1870
Pronunciation: / ˈ l ɪ d i ə /
Named after: Lydia
Alternative designations: A870 HA; 1899 VA; 1972 YS 1
Minor planet category: Main belt Lydia family

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Article

110 Lydia is a large belt asteroid with an M-type spectrum, and thus may be metallic in composition, consisting primarily of nickel-iron. It was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on 19 April 1870 and was named for Lydia, the Asia Minor country populated by Phrygians. The Lydia family of asteroids is named after it.

Observations made during 1958–1959 at the McDonald Observatory and in 1969 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory found an uneven light curve with a period of 10.9267 hours. In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide used light curves to derive spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including (110) Lydia. They obtained a period of 10.92580 hours, with the brightness varying by no more than 0.2 in magnitude.