Q152414

Also known as (396) Aeolia, Aeolia

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: Auguste Charlois
Discovery date: 1 December 1894
Pronunciation: / iː ˈ oʊ l i ə /
Named after: Aeolis
Alternative designations: 1894 BL
Minor planet category: Main belt ( Aeolia clump )

~1 min read

Article

396 Aeolia is a typical main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 1 December 1894 from Nice, and may have been named for the ancient land of Aeolis. The asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.74 AU with a period of 4.54 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.16. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.5° to the plane of the ecliptic. This is the largest member of the eponymously named Aeolia asteroid family, a small group of asteroids with similar orbits that have an estimated age of less than 100 million years.

Analysis of the asteroid light curve based on photometry data collected during 2016 show a rotation period of 14.353±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.36±0.02 in magnitude. This rules out a previous estimate of 22.2 hours. It is a metallic Xe type asteroid in the SMASS classification.