Q155154

Also known as (524) Fidelio, Fidelio

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: Max Wolf
Discovery site: Heidelberg
Discovery date: 14 March 1904
Alternative designations: 1904 NN
Observation arc: 112.10 yr (40943 d)
Aphelion: 2.9726 AU (444.69 Gm )

Article

524 Fidelio is a large minor planet with a diameter of 71 km, orbiting the Sun near the center of the main asteroid belt. Fidelio contains both metals and carbon (Spectral class XC). Concerning its name, the Catalogue of Minor Planet Names and Discovery Circumstances notes, "This is the name of Leonora when disguised as a man in the opera Fidelio (composed 1805) by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The name dates from a period when Max Wolf assigned the names of female operatic characters to asteroids he had newly discovered.

524 Fidelio is also the name of a song on the album Valentina by The Wedding Present.