98 Ianthe

Also known as (98) Ianthe, Ianthe

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.

Small body data

98 Ianthe (A868 HA)

Orbit class: Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter: 132.788 km
Albedo: 0.029
Rotation period: 16.479 h
Absolute magnitude: 8.950 H
Earth MOID: 1.200 AU

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Article

98 Ianthe is a large main-belt asteroid, named for three figures in Greek mythology. It is very dark and is composed of carbonates. It was one of the numerous (for his time—the 19th century) discoveries by C. H. F. Peters, who found it on April 18, 1868, from Clinton, New York.

This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.41 years and an eccentricity of 0.186. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 15.6° to the plane of the ecliptic. Measurements of the cross-section dimension yield a size of around 105 km. Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico were used to create a light curve plot. This showed a synodic rotation period of 16.479±0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.27±0.02 magnitude during each cycle. It is classified as a C-type asteroid, indicating a dark, carbonaceous surface.