Q155627

Also known as (573) Recha, Recha, (573) 1905 RC

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: 19 September 1905
Pronunciation: / ˈ r iː k ə / , German: [ ˈʁeːçaː ]
Alternative designations: 1905 RC
Observation arc: 110.43 yr (40335 d)

~2 min read

Article

573 Recha is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid, discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on September 19, 1905, was named after a character in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's play Nathan the Wise and may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1905 RC.

Photometric observations at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado from 2001 to 2006 were used to build a light curve for this object. The asteroid displayed a rotation period of 7.15 ± 0.01 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.02 in magnitude.