195 Eurykleia

Also known as (195) Eurykleia, Eurykleia

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: J. Palisa , 1879
Discovery date: 19 April 1879
Pronunciation: / j ʊ r ɪ ˈ k l iː ə /
Alternative designations: A879 HA; 1949 QB 2
Minor planet category: Main belt
Observation arc: 131.99 yr (48,208 d)

Article

195 Eurykleia is a fairly large main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on April 19, 1879, and named after Euryclea, the wet-nurse of Odysseus in The Odyssey.

This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.88 years and a low eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.04. The orbital plane is inclined by 7° from the plane of the ecliptic. It is spinning with a rotation period of 16.5 hours and varies in brightness with an amplitude of 0.24 magnitude. The cross-section diameter of this body is 43 km. The asteroid has a taxonomic type of Ch in the SMASS classification, which indicates it has a dark surface with a primitive carbonaceous composition.