Q156162

Also known as (650) Amalasuntha, Amalasuntha

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: August Kopff
Discovery site: Heidelberg
Discovery date: 4 October 1907
Alternative designations: 1907 AM
Observation arc: 108.51 yr (39635 d)
Aphelion: 2.9093 AU (435.23 Gm )

~1 min read

Article

650 Amalasuntha is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on October 4, 1907, at Heidelberg. It was named after Amalasuntha, the queen of the Ostrogoths from 526 to 534 AD. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1907 AM.

Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, were used to create a light curve plot. This showed a rotation period of 16.582 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.44 ± 0.03 magnitude during each cycle.