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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 July 1933
- Named after
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky , (rocket scientist)
- Alternative designations
- 1933 NA · 1933 OU, 1936 HB · 1937 VE, 1940 RN · 1940 RX, 1943 OD · 1950 SF, A907 TB · A913 MC
- Minor planet category
Article
1590 Tsiolkovskaja, provisional designation 1933 NA, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 July 1933, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory, on the Crimean peninsula. It was named for rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Classification and orbit