Q157456

Also known as (855) Newcombia, Newcombia

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: S. Belyavskyj
Discovery site: Simeiz Obs.
Discovery date: 3 April 1916
Named after: Simon Newcomb , ( United States Naval Observatory )
Alternative designations: A916 GP · 1935 SJ 1 , 1938 KB · 1916 ZP
Minor planet category: main-belt · ( inner ) , background

~4 min read

Article

855 Newcombia (prov. designation: A916 GP or 1916 ZP) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 April 1916, by astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The S-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after Canadian–American astronomer Simon Newcomb (1835–1909).

Orbit and classification