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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 January 1932
- Named after
- Cordie Robinson
- Alternative designations
- 1932 BG · 1936 KF, 1976 GS 6 · 1982 BG 2
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
~1 min read
Article
2942 Cordie, provisional designation 1932 BG, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 January 1932, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.
The asteroid has a long rotation period of roughly 80 hours. It was named after of Cordie Robinson, planetary geologist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.