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
- 11 August 1928
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v ɪ s i ə , - ʃ i ə /
- Named after
- Vicia ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1928 PC · 1941 SO 2 , 1958 PF · 1978 BG, A907 VF
Article
1097 Vicia, provisional designation 1928 PC, is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in 1928, the asteroid was later named after the flowering plant Vicia, commonly known as vetches.
Discovery