Q158171

Also known as (945) Barcelona, Barcelona

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: J. Comas Solà
Discovery site: Barcelona
Discovery date: 3 February 1921
Alternative designations: 1921 JB
Observation arc: 92.54 yr (33802 days)
Aphelion: 3.0656 AU (458.61 Gm )

~1 min read

Article

945 Barcelona is a minor planet orbiting the Sun in the Asteroid belt. It was discovered 3 February 1921 from Barcelona by the Catalan astronomer Josep Comas i Solà (1868–1937) and named for the city of Barcelona (Spain), the birthplace of the discoverer. It has an estimated diameter of 25.5 km.

This object is the namesake of a Barcelona family of approximately 300 stony asteroids that share similar spectral properties and orbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively high orbital inclination.