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
- H. E. Wood
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 21 July 1928
- Named after
- Theodore Reunert, (South African engineer)
- Alternative designations
- 1928 OB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
Article
1096 Reunerta, provisional designation 1928 OB, is an asteroid from the background population of the asteroid belt's central region, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 July 1928, by astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. The asteroid was named after South African engineer Theodore Reunert, supporter of the observatory and friend of the discoverer.
Orbit and classification