27 Euterpe

Also known as (27) Euterpe, Euterpe

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. R. Hind
Discovery site: George Bishop's Obs.
Discovery date: 8 November 1853
Pronunciation: / j uː ˈ t ɜːr p iː /
Named after: Euterpe (Greek mythology)
Alternative designations: 1945 KB

Article

27 Euterpe is a stony asteroid and parent body of the Euterpe family, located in the inner asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind at George Bishop's Observatory in London on 8 November 1853. The asteroid was named after Euterpe, the Muse of music in Greek mythology.

Euterpe is one of the brightest asteroids in the night sky. It had an apparent magnitude of 8.5 during a perihelic opposition on 25 December 2015 when the asteroid was about 1 AU from Earth. At the end of November 2022 it passed about 1.5 degrees from Uranus while in the constellation of Aries. Based on the S-type spectra the composition appears stony. It has a cross-section size of around 100–120 km. 27 Euterpe is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.59 years and is spinning on its axis once every 10.4 hours.