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
- 25 May 1932
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ d aɪ r ə / DY -rə or / ˈ d ɛər ə / DAIR -ə
- Named after
- Deira , near the town of Ossett , England , (alt. Celtic Kingdom of Deira )
- Alternative designations
~4 min read
Article
1244 Deira (prov. designation: 1932 KE) is a dark background asteroid and slow rotator from the inner region of the asteroid belt. The X-type asteroid has an exceptionally long rotation period of 210.6 hours and measures approximately 31 kilometers (19 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 25 May 1932, by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, who named it after Deira, an old kingdom near his birthplace, the market town of Ossett, located in West Yorkshire, England.
Orbit and classification