Q157240

Also known as (815) Coppelia, Coppelia

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: 2 February 1916
Alternative designations: 1916 YU
Observation arc: 100.20 yr (36597 d)
Aphelion: 2.8615 AU (428.07 Gm )

~1 min read

Article

815 Coppelia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on 2 February 1916 from Heidelberg named after Coppélia, a comic ballet.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Rozhen Observatory in Bulgaria during 2010 gave a light curve with a period of 4.4565 hours and a brightness variation of 0.24 in magnitude. This is consistent with a period of 4.421 hours and an amplitude of 0.27 obtained during a 2006 study.