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. Laugier
- Discovery site
- Nice Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 October 1936
- Named after
- ASCII / ASCII (magazine) (character code and magazine)
- Alternative designations
- 1936 UB · 1975 WZ 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
~3 min read
Article
3568 ASCII, provisional designation 1936 UB, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 October 1936, by French astronomer Marguerite Laugier at the Nice Observatory in southwestern France. In 1988, the D-type asteroid was named after both the computer character code ASCII and the Japanese computer magazine with the same name.
Orbit and classification