683 Lanzia
Also known as (683) Lanzia, Lanzia
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.
© Marek Nikodem (PPSAE) · via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 23 July 1909
- Alternative designations
- 1909 HC
- Observation arc
- 101.75 yr (37,164 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2891 AU (492.04 Gm )
~1 min read
Article
683 Lanzia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered July 23, 1909, by Max Wolf at the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl observatory and was named in honor of Lanz, founder of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Photometric observations made in 2003 at the Santana Observatory in Rancho Cucamonga, California, give a synodic rotation period of 8.63 ± 0.005 hours. The light curve shows a brightness variation of 0.15 ± 0.04 in magnitude.
Observations during two last occultation 18 and 22 December 2010 (P.Baruffetti, G. Tonlorenzi - Massa, G. Bonatti - Carrara, R. Di Luca - Bologna (Italy), C. Schnabel - S. Estebe, J. Rovira - Moja (Spain)) measured a 122.5 km diameter (medium) and an Albedo of 0.0705 compatible with carbonaceous asteroids (C group).