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
- E. Bowell
- Discovery site
- Anderson Mesa Stn.
- Discovery date
- 8 November 1980
- Named after
- "rock" in Hopi
- Alternative designations
- 1980 VJ · 1926 VD, 1953 TJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora · background
~3 min read
Article
2648 Owa, provisional designation 1980 VJ, is a background asteroid from the Flora region of the inner asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers (4 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 8 November 1980, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. The presumably S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.56 hours. It was named for the word "rock" in the Native American Hopi language.
Orbit and classification