Q112292

Also known as (645) Agrippina, Agrippina

outer 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: J. H. Metcalf
Discovery site: Taunton, MA , United States
Discovery date: 13 September 1907
Pronunciation: / æ ɡ r ɪ ˈ p aɪ n ə /
Named after: Agrippīna, ( the Elder , the Younger )
Alternative designations: 1907 AG

Article

645 Agrippina, provisional designation 1907 AG, is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, roughly 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer reverend Joel Metcalf at Taunton, Massachusetts, USA, on 13 September 1907.

The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,103 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.15 and is tilted by 7 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. A photometric light-curve analysis from the 1980s and a provisional observation in 2004 rendered a rotation period of 32.6 and 34.4 hours, respectively.