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
- 30 December 1981
- Named after
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- Alternative designations
- 1981 YD · 1963 FB, 1965 UK 1 · 1971 FZ, 1971 JA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
~1 min read
Article
2984 Chaucer, provisionally designated 1981 YD, is a main-belt asteroid, which was discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 30 December 1981.
It is named after Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400), the medieval English poet.