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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 16 August 1936
- Named after
- Mikhail Subbotin , (Soviet scientist)
- Alternative designations
- 1936 QD · 1927 SL, 1930 FG · 1931 OA, 1935 GJ · 1935 JJ, 1940 LK · 1941 SO 1 , 1941 UA · 1949 HL 1 , 1950 RZ · 1951 YM 1 , 1955 SO 2 · 1964 RC
- Minor planet category
~3 min read
Article
1692 Subbotina, provisional designation 1936 QD, is a dark background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers (23 miles) in diameter. The carbonaceous Cg-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.2 hours. It was discovered by Grigory Neujmin at the Crimean Simeiz Observatory in 1936, and later named after Soviet mathematician and astronomer Mikhail Subbotin.
Discovery