654 Zelinda

Also known as (654) Zelinda, Zelinda

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: August Kopff
Discovery site: Heidelberg
Discovery date: 4 January 1908
Alternative designations: 1908 BM
Observation arc: 108.29 yr (39553 d)
Aphelion: 2.8288 AU (423.18 Gm )

~2 min read

Article

654 Zelinda is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered on 4 January 1908 by German astronomer August Kopff. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.297 AU with an orbital eccentricity of 0.23 and a period of 3.48 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 18.1° to the plane of the ecliptic. On favorable oppositions, it can be as bright as magnitude 10.0, as observed on January 30, 2016.

In 1988, this object was detected with radar from the Arecibo Observatory at a distance of 0.89 AU. The measured radar cross-section was 2,200 km. Measurements made using the adaptive optics system at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a diameter estimate of 131 km. This is 13% smaller than the diameter estimated from the IRAS observatory measurements. It is roughly triangular in shape, and spins with a synodic rotation period of 31.735 h.