Q157657
Also known as (890) Waltraut, Waltraut
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.
© Marek Nikodem (PPSAE) · via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Observatory
- Discovery date
- 11 March 1918
- Minor planet category
- main-belt Eos
- Observation arc
- 95.39 yr (34842 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2017 AU (478.97 Gm )
Article
890 Waltraut is an Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on 11 March 1918. It was named for a character in Richard Wagner's opera, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
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.