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
- Raymond Smith Dugan
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 27 January 1904
- Alternative designations
- 1904 ND
- Observation arc
- 113.46 yr (41442 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4869 AU (521.63 Gm )
~1 min read
Article
523 Ada is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered January 29, 1904, by American astronomer Raymond S. Dugan at Heidelberg, Germany and was named after his friend Ada Helme. CCD images collected during the fall of 2004 at Oakley Observatory in Terre Haute, Indiana, were used to generate a lightcurve for the object, showing a rotation period of 10.03 ± 0.01 hours.
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