Q154415

Also known as (454) Mathesis, Mathesis

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: Friedrich Karl Arnold Schwassmann
Discovery site: Heidelberg (024)
Discovery date: 28 March 1900
Pronunciation: / m ə ˈ θ iː s ɪ s /
Named after: mathematics
Alternative designations: 1900 FC

~1 min read

Article

454 Mathesis is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Friedrich Karl Arnold Schwassmann on March 28, 1900. Its provisional name was 1900 FC.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Altimira Observatory in 2004 gave a light curve with a period of 8.37784 ± 0.00003 hours and a brightness variation of 0.32 in magnitude. This differs from periods of 7.075 hours reported in 1994 and 7.745 hours in 1998.