264 Libussa

Also known as (264) Libussa, Libussa

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: C. H. F. Peters
Discovery date: 22 December 1886
Pronunciation: German: [ ˈliːbʊsaː ]
Named after: Libuše
Alternative designations: A886 YA
Minor planet category: Main belt

Article

264 Libussa is a Main belt asteroid that was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on 22 December 1886, in Clinton, New York and was named after Libussa, the legendary founder of Prague. It is classified as an S-type asteroid.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 2008 gave an asymmetrical, bimodal light curve with a period of 9.2276 ± 0.0002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.33 ± 0.03 in magnitude. Observation from the W. M. Keck Observatory show an angular size of 57 mas, which is close to the resolution limit of the instrument. The estimated maximum size of the asteroid is about 66 ± 7 km. It has an asymmetrical shape with a size ratio of more than 1.22 between the major and minor axes.