Q156850

Also known as (739) Mandeville, Mandeville

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: Joel Hastings Metcalf
Discovery site: Winchester, Massachusetts
Discovery date: 7 February 1913
Pronunciation: / ˈ m æ n d ə v ɪ l /
Alternative designations: 1913 QR
Adjectives: Mandevillean / m æ n d ə ˈ v ɪ l i ə n /

~1 min read

Article

739 Mandeville is a minor planet located in the asteroid belt. Its absolute magnitude is 8.50. It was discovered on 7 February 1913 by Joel Hastings Metcalf in Winchester, Massachusetts, and assigned the provisional code 1913 QR. A later, duplicate discovery was assigned the code 1963 HE.

The orbital characteristics are calculated from the epoch of 4 January 2010, at which time 739 Mandeville had an orbital period of 1656 days and an orbital axis of 2.74 AU with eccentricity 0.14. Thus, its minimum distance from the sun was 2.35 and its maximum was 3.13. Its orbital inclination was found to be 20.71°, and its mean anomaly 116.58°.