Q157143

Also known as (798) Ruth, Ruth

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: Max Wolf
Discovery site: Heidelberg Observatory
Discovery date: 21 November 1914
Pronunciation: / ˈ r uː θ /
Alternative designations: 1914 VT
Observation arc: 135.93 yr (49647 d)

~1 min read

Article

798 Ruth is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by the German astronomer Max Wolf on 21 November 1914. It may have been named after the biblical character Ruth. This main belt asteroid has an orbital period of 5.23 years and is orbiting at a distance of 3.0 AU from the Sun with an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.036. The orbital plane is tilted by 9.2° from the plane of the ecliptic.

This is a member of the dynamic Eos family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body. It is an M-type (metallic) asteroid that displays a significant component of the mineral olivine in its spectrum. 798 Ruth spans 43.19±2.9 km and rotates on its axis once every 8.55 h.