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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 April 1929
- Named after
- Catriona (novel by, Robert Louis Stevenson )
- Alternative designations
- 1929 GD · 1926 RQ, A908 AC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
Article
1116 Catriona (prov. designation: 1929 GD) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 39 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 April 1929 by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The asteroid was likely named after the 1893-novel Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Classification and orbit