Q150834

Also known as (309) Fraternitas, Fraternitas

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: 6 April 1891
Pronunciation: / f r ə ˈ t ɜːr n ɪ t æ s /
Named after: fraternity
Minor planet category: Main belt
Observation arc: 125.03 yr (45667 d)

~1 min read

Article

309 Fraternitas is a typical Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 6 April 1891 in Vienna. The asteroid name is Latin for 'fraternity'; it was so named in order to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Maturitätsprüfung Fraternity.

This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.665 AU with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.115 and a period of 4.35 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.72° of the ecliptic. Analysis of the asymmetric bimodal light curve of the asteroid from photometric data collected during 2014 provide a rotation period of 22.398±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.12±0.01 in magnitude.