Q158070

Also known as (930) Westphalia, Westphalia

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: W. Baade
Discovery site: Bergedorf Obs.
Discovery date: 10 March 1920
Pronunciation: / w ɛ s t ˈ f eɪ l i ə /
Named after: Westphalia , (German region)
Alternative designations: A920 EE · 1920 GS, A916 DD · 1916 DD

~4 min read

Article

930 Westphalia (prov. designation: A920 EE or 1920 GS) is a very dark background asteroid and a slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, that measures approximately 36 kilometers (22 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 10 March 1920, by German astronomer Walter Baade at the Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid (Ch) has an exceptionally long rotation period of 100.7 hours and is likely spherical in shape. It was named after Westphalia, a region in northwestern Germany.

Orbit and classification