Q152589

Also known as (405) Thia, Thia

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: 23 July 1895
Pronunciation: / ˈ θ aɪ ə /
Named after: Theia
Alternative designations: 1895 BZ
Minor planet category: Main belt

~1 min read

Article

405 Thia is a very large main-belt asteroid. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of carbonaceous material. This object was discovered by Auguste Charlois on July 23, 1895, in Nice, and was named after Theia (sometimes written Thea or Thia), a Titaness in Greek mythology.

In 2002, the asteroid was detected by radar from the Arecibo Observatory at a distance of 1.31 AU. The resulting data yielded an effective diameter of 125 ± 16 km. NEOWISE data suggests the asteroid is 110 km in diameter.