291 Alice

Also known as (291) Alice, Alice

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: Johann Palisa
Discovery date: 25 April 1890
Alternative designations: A890 HA, 1954 UJ 3
Minor planet category: main-belt
Observation arc: 124.62 yr (45516 d)
Aphelion: 2.4273 AU (363.12 Gm )

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Article

291 Alice is a stony background asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 25 April 1890 at the Vienna Observatory.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Leura Observatory in Leura, Australia during 2006 gave a rotation period of 4.313 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This result is in agreement with previous studies. Lightcurve analysis indicates that Alice's pole points towards either ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (55°, 65°) or (β, λ) = (55°, 245°) with a 10° uncertainty. This gives an axial tilt of about 35° in both cases.