Q156129
Also known as (648) Pippa, Pippa
outer 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.
© Marek Nikodem (PPSAE) · via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 11 September 1907
- Alternative designations
- 1907 AE
- Observation arc
- 108.44 yr (39606 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8302 AU (572.99 Gm )
Article
648 Pippa is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. Photometric measurements made from the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory during 2012 gave a light curve with a period of 9.263 ± 0.001 hours and a variation in brightness of 0.31 ± 0.03 in magnitude. This is inconsistent with a period estimate of 5.2 ± 0.3 made in 2004. It was named after Pippa, the title character in Gerhardt Hauptmann's novel Und Pippa tanzt.
References