167 Urda
Also known as (167) Urda, Urda
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.
© Marek Nikodem (PPSAE) · via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery site
- Clinton, New York
- Discovery date
- 28 August 1876
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɜːr d ə /
- Named after
- Urd
- Alternative designations
- A876 QA; 1899 KC;, 1905 QA; 1906 WA
Article
167 Urda is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters on August 28, 1876, in Clinton, New York, and named after Urd, one of the Norns in Norse mythology. In 1905, Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa showed that the asteroid varied in brightness.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during 2007–8 gave a light curve with a period of 13.06133 ± 0.00002 hours. This S-type asteroid is a member of the Koronis family of asteroids that share similar orbital elements.