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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 19 March 1931
- Named after
- Mally Wolf, (discoverer's daughter-in-law)
- Alternative designations
- 1931 FD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
Article
1179 Mally, provisional designation 1931 FD, is an asteroid and long-lost minor planet from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Max Wolf in 1931, the asteroid was lost until its rediscovery in 1986. The discoverer named it after his daughter-in-law, Mally Wolf.
Discovery and rediscovery