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
- 12 January 1924
- Named after
- Sarema , (character in opera/poem)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 PM · 1942 VC 1 , 1954 XL · 1954 YF, A907 VQ · A907 WA, A924 AD
- Minor planet category
Article
1012 Sarema (prov. designation: A924 AD or 1924 PM) is a dark background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 January 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory at Heidelberg, Germany. The asteroid has a rotation period of 10.3 hours and probably an elongated shape. It was named after Sarema, a character in the poem The Fountain of Bakhchisaray by Aleksandr Pushkin, and the protagonist of the opera Sarema by Alexander von Zemlinsky based upon it.
Orbit and classification