Q155591

Also known as (565) Marbachia, Marbachia, (565) 1905 QN

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: M. F. Wolf
Discovery site: Heidelberg
Discovery date: 9 May 1905
Pronunciation: / m ɑːr ˈ b ɑː k i ə /
Alternative designations: 1905 QN
Observation arc: 110.91 yr (40510 d)

~1 min read

Article

565 Marbachia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was named after the German city of Marbach on the river Neckar, birthplace of the writer Friedrich Schiller. This is classified as a D-type asteroid, although it displays a type of polarimetric behavior that is a characteristic of the "barbarians" class. Light curve analysis based on photometric data show a rotation period of 4.587±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.30 in magnitude.

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