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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 26 January 1938
- Named after
- Utra (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 BB · 1936 SB, 1951 KO · A918 FA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
~3 min read
Article
1447 Utra, provisional designation 1938 BB, is a stony asteroid, slow rotator and suspected tumbler from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 January 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland. The asteroid was named for the Finnish town of Utra (now a part of Joensuu).
Orbit and classification