Q112396
Also known as (653) Berenike, Berenike
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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 27 November 1907
- Pronunciation
- / b ɛr ɪ ˈ n aɪ k iː /
- Named after
- Berenice II
- Alternative designations
- 1907 BK
Article
653 Berenike is a main-belt asteroid discovered on 27 November 1907 by Joel Hastings Metcalf at Taunton, Massachusetts. It is named after Berenice II of Egypt, after whom the constellation Coma Berenices is also named. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1907 BK.
Berenike is a member of the dynamic Eos family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.