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
- 22 October 1938
- Named after
- Ounasjoki River, (in Finland)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 UT · 1950 NZ, 1950 PB 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
~2 min read
Article
1473 Ounas, provisional designation 1938 UT, is a stony asteroid, suspected tumbler and a slow rotator from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 October 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland. The asteroid was named after the Finnish Ounas river.
Classification and orbit