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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 January 1906
- Named after
- parents of British astronomer Brian G. Marsden
- Alternative designations
- A906 BJ · 1927 DD, 1934 PS · 1949 MV, 1950 RD 1 · 1950 TF 3 , 1953 CH · 1953 EO, 1957 WH · 1959 JR, 1961 TE 1 · 1961 TW 1 , 1965 OE · 1974 DQ 1 , 1974 FC 1 · 1981 NN 1
~3 min read
Article
2443 Tomeileen, provisional designation A906 BJ, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 January 1906, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany. The S-type asteroid was named after the parents of British astronomer Brian G. Marsden. It has a rotation period of 3.97 hours.
Orbit and classification