Q150116

Also known as (280) Philia, Philia

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: 29 October 1888
Pronunciation: / ˈ f ɪ l i ə /
Named after: Philia (nymph)
Alternative designations: A888 UB
Minor planet category: Main belt

~1 min read

Article

280 Philia is a fairly large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 29 October 1888 at the Vienna Observatory.

Sparse data collected during a 1987 study indicated this asteroid has a rotation period of approximately 64 hours, which is much longer than can be continually observed from one site. During 2010−2011, an international collaboration to study the asteroid collected 9,037 photometric data points over 38 sessions. The resulting light curve analysis displays a rotation period of 70.26±0.03 h with a brightness variation of 0.15±0.02 in magnitude.