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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 12 September 1906
- Named after
- Otto Kippes , (priest and astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A906 RA · 1935 CC, 1938 UC 1 · 1943 TL, 1943 VD · 1947 NB, 1951 ED 2 · 1953 SA, 1957 LD · 1962 JU, 1969 RB 2 · 1975 VL 6 , A911 QE
- Minor planet category
~3 min read
Article
1780 Kippes, provisional designation A906 RA, is an Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 28 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 September 1906, by astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after German Catholic priest and amateur astronomer Otto Kippes.
Orbit and classification