by The planet Venus is the undisputed star in the night sky this year.
Venus, which is now in our southwest sky for about two hours after sunset, is almost like a stunning sequined showgirl, currently starring in her nightly display of brilliance. Seen in the evening twilight, this planet appears blindingly bright to the naked eye and even more so in binoculars.
For those who monitor it from week to week in telescopes, it is constantly changing and always fascinating. More on that a little later.
Related: Venus: The fiery second planet from the Sun
Summits with other worlds
A fairly close connection between Venus and the ringed planet Saturn will take place on Sunday (January 22).
Then, on the evening of March 1, Venus and Jupiter will hold another celestial conjunction, appearing only about half a degree apart. They will appear side by side, Venus shining to the right of Jupiter. At magnitude -4.0, Venus will be about six times as bright as its yellow neighbor.
Less than a week earlier, a 2.5-day-old crescent moon will form a narrow and striking isosceles triangle, with Jupiter and the Moon separated by just 1.5 degrees, while Venus sits 7 degrees below both. Here’s a challenge for amateur photographers: Try to capture the two planets, the narrow sliver of the crescent moon (only 9% illuminated by the sun), with perhaps some earth sheen on the unlit portion, and any residual twilight glow silhouetted against the western horizon.
Read more: When is the conjunction between Venus and Saturn on Sunday (January 22)?
Stay up late with Venus
This will develop into an exceptional evening view of Venus. Back on January 13, the planet set about 90 minutes after sunset and – for the first time – just after the end of evening twilight in a completely dark sky. From then on, those watching it night after night over the following weeks and months will notice that it makes an unusual excursion far into the deep night sky, setting about 3½ hours after the sun in the third week of May.
Many astronomy books will often say that Venus is usually long gone from view around midnight, which makes it that much harder to believe that Venus will be up as late as 11:45 PM DST during this upcoming mid-May time frame. This will be after midnight for those living in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Des Moines and Salt Lake City. In the most extreme cases, it can be after 12:30 a.m. daylight saving time in some cities far west of the standard time meridian, such as Boise, Bismarck, Indianapolis, and Flint.
The show continues until early summer
On May 21st, look for Venus shining under the “Gemini Stars” in the Gemini constellation, Castor and Pollux. To the upper left of the Gemini twins, Mars shines and far to the lower right of Venus there will be a thin crescent moon. By the next night, the moon will have moved closer to Venus.
On June 4, it reaches its greatest eastern extension. It will then be 45 degrees from the sun, one eighth of the way around the ecliptic. At magnitude -4.3, the planet will certainly be conspicuous, almost twice as bright as it appears to us now.
Just after sunset on June 21 – the first day of summer – look to the west-northwest for a lovely crescent moon accompanied by Venus in the lower left.
Between now and July, repeated observations of Venus with a small telescope will show the full range of phases and disk sizes. The planet currently shows a small, dazzling gibbous disc (93% illuminated). It will become noticeably less gibbous in mid-spring.
In early June, Venus reaches dichotomy (showing a “crescent” shape). Then, for the rest of the spring to early summer, it shows an ever-larger crescent moon as it swings close to Earth. In fact, those using telescopes will notice that as the Earth-Venus distance decreases, the apparent size of Venus’ disk will grow, doubling from its current size by May 27. When it has doubled in size again on July 16, its large crescent shape should be easy to see even in even 7-power binoculars.
Transition to the sky before dawn
The time when Venus reaches the peak of its great brilliance comes midway between greatest elongation and conjunction with the Sun – on July 7 – when it reaches an eye-popping magnitude of -4.7. With this burst of glory, Venus will quickly slide into the sunlight, setting just two hours after the sun and shortly before the end of evening twilight this night.
By late July, however, it will set just about 25 minutes after sunset and will have given up its position as a prominent evening object.
But the “Venus Show” won’t be over, as a repeat performance begins in mid-August, this time in the morning sky and with the course of events reversed, peaking again on September 19, glowing like a beacon in the pre-dawn eastern sky.
On November 9, be sure to set your alarm clock for 5 a.m. and then head out to a spot with an unobstructed east-northeast view to see the most spectacular Venus/Moon pairing of 2023. Finally, on Christmas morning, By attending the early morning services, Venus will shine as a brilliant “star in the east” rising nearly three hours before the sun.
This is truly Venus’s year!
If you don’t have all the equipment you need to see Venus this year, our guides to the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start. If you want to take pictures of Venus or anything else in the night sky, check out our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: If you take a great photo of Venus this year and want to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and name and location to [email protected]
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural history magazineit The farmer’s almanac and other publications. follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab)or on Facebook (opens in a new tab) and Instagram (opens in a new tab).
