Q156493

Also known as (686) Gersuind, Gersuind

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: 15 August 1909
Alternative designations: 1909 HF
Minor planet category: main-belt · ( middle ) , Gersuind
Observation arc: 106.67 yr (38960 d)

~1 min read

Article

686 Gersuind is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on 15 August 1909 from Heidelberg. It was named after a character in Gerhart Hauptmann's play Gersuind.

This object is the namesake of a family of 40–207 asteroids that share similar spectral properties and orbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively high orbital inclination.