217 Eudora

Also known as (217) Eudora, Eudora

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. Coggia
Discovery date: 30 August 1880
Pronunciation: / j uː ˈ d ɔːr ə /
Named after: Eudora
Alternative designations: A880 QA, 1914 RA
Minor planet category: Main belt

Article

217 Eudora is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by French (Corsican) astronomer Jérôme Eugène Coggia on August 30, 1880, in Marseille, France. It was his fourth asteroid discovery and is probably named after Eudora, one of the Hyades in Greek mythology.

It probably has a composition similar to carbonaceous chondrites. In 2007, a study showed it rotates every 25.253 ± 0.003 hours, based on lightcurve data. A light curve generated from photometric observations at Pulkovo Observatory, give a matching rotation period of 25.253 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.22 ± 0.04 in magnitude.