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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 February 1932
- Pronunciation
- kətlɛta
- Named after
- Adolphe Quetelet , (Belgian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 CB · 1978 TH 3
Article
1239 Queteleta (kətlɛta), provisional designation 1932 CB, is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 February 1932, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named after Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian astronomer and mathematician.
Discovery