Q150309

Also known as (290) Bruna, Bruna

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: 20 March 1890
Pronunciation: / ˈ b r uː n ə /
Named after: Brno
Alternative designations: A890 FA
Minor planet category: main belt

Article

290 Bruna is a main belt asteroid that was discovered on 20 March 1890 by Johann Palisa, an Austrian astronomer at the Vienna Observatory.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, during 2008 gave a light curve with a period of 13.807 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.54 ± 0.04 in magnitude. Changes in the brightness of the minimum with phase angle is attributed to changes in the shadows across surface features.