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
- V. Albitzkij
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1924
- Named after
- Great Britain , (part of British Isles )
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RE · 1927 YB, 1947 BE · 1948 HB, 1948 JG · 1952 FJ, A910 EB · A917 SP
- Minor planet category
~3 min read
Article
1071 Brita, provisional designation 1924 RE, is a dark asteroid from the background population of the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 March 1924, by Soviet astronomer Vladimir Albitsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after the island of Great Britain.
Orbit and classification