Q148805

Also known as (236) Honoria, Honoria

main-belt asteroid

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.

Key facts

Discovered by: Johann Palisa
Discovery date: 26 April 1884
Pronunciation: / h ɒ ˈ n ɔːr i ə /
Named after: Justa Grata Honoria
Alternative designations: A884 HA, 1904 PA, 1930 KK , 1953 GJ 1
Minor planet category: Main belt

~1 min read

Article

236 Honoria is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 26 April 1884 in Vienna. The asteroid was named after Honoria, granddaughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who started negotiations with Attila the Hun. It is classified as a stony S-type asteroid based upon its spectrum. 236 Honoria is orbiting close to a 5:2 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, which is located at 2.824 AU.

Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.