402 Chloë

Also known as (402) Chloë, Chloë

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: Auguste Charlois
Discovery date: 21 March 1895
Pronunciation: / ˈ k l oʊ i / KLOH -ee
Named after: Χλόη Khloē
Alternative designations: 1895 BW
Minor planet category: Main belt

~2 min read

Article

402 Chloë (prov. designation: A895 FB or 1895 BW) is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 21 March 1895 from Nice. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.56 AU with a period of 4.09 years and an eccentricity of 0.11. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 11.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.

This asteroid spans a girth of approximately 54 km. It is classified as a K-type asteroid and is a Barbarian, which means it belongs to a class of asteroids of which 234 Barbara is the prototype. Analysis of the asteroid light curve, based on photometric data collected during 2009, show a rotation period of 10.664±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.30±0.01 in magnitude.