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
- 30 July 1938
- Named after
- Shona people (Mashona) , (natives of Mashonaland )
- Alternative designations
- 1938 OE · 1930 DL, 1936 DK · 1936 FA 1 , 1948 EG · A923 CB
- Minor planet category
~3 min read
Article
1467 Mashona, provisional designation 1938 OE, is a rare-type carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter, making it one of the top 200 largest asteroids currently known to exist. It was discovered on 30 July 1938, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. It was later named after the native Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Classification and orbit