254 Augusta

Also known as (254) Augusta, Augusta

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.

Small body data

254 Augusta (A886 FA)

Orbit class: Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter: 12.467 km
Albedo: 0.170
Rotation period: 5.895 h
Absolute magnitude: 11.840 H
Earth MOID: 0.915 AU

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Article

254 Augusta is a main-belt asteroid, discovered on 31 March 1886 by astronomer Johann Palisa at Vienna Observatory, Austria. The stony S-type asteroid measures about 12 kilometers in diameter. It is the first-numbered member of the Augusta family, after which the small Asteroid family and subgroup of the main-belt has been named. Augusta was named after the German–Austrian writer Auguste von Littrow (1819–1890), widow of astronomer Carl Ludwig von Littrow, who was a former director of the Vienna Observatory.

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