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
- S. Arend
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 23 March 1933
- Named after
- Jan Śniadecki , (Polish astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1933 FE · 1949 JJ, 2016 FS 5 · A907 GU
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
Article
1262 Sniadeckia, provisional designation 1933 FE, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the asteroid belt's outer regions, approximately 54 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1933, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named for Polish astronomer Jan Śniadecki. It has a notably low eccentricity of only 0.005.
Orbit and classification