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The planet Venus is the undisputed star of the night sky this year.
Venus, now in our southwestern sky for about two hours after sunset, is almost like a glittery stellar showgirl, currently starring in her brilliant performance every night. Seen at evening twilight, this planet appears dazzlingly bright to the naked eye and even more so to binoculars.
For those who watch it from week to week in telescopes, it is constantly changing and always fascinating. More on that a bit later.
Related: Venus: the second burning planet from the sun
Summit encounters with other worlds
A rather close conjunction 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 rendezvous, 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 brighter than its yellow neighbor.
Less than a week earlier, a 2.5-day-old crescent moon will form a stark, narrow isosceles triangle, with Jupiter and the moon just 1.5 degrees apart, while Venus sits 7 degrees below both. . Here’s a challenge for amateur photographers: try to capture both planets, the narrow crescent moon sliver (only 9% lit by the sun), with maybe a bit of Earthshine on its unlit part, and any glow residual twilight silhouetting the western horizon.
Read more: What time is the conjunction of Venus and Saturn on Sunday (January 22)?
Stay up late with Venus
This will evolve into an exceptional nocturnal appearance for 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 completely dark skies. From then on, those watching it night after night over the following weeks and months will notice that it makes an unusual excursion deep into the deep night sky, setting about 3.5 hours after the sun in the third week of May. .
Many astronomy books often say that Venus is usually long gone around midnight, which makes it all the more difficult to believe that Venus will stay up until 11:45 p.m. DST during this next period. from mid-May. . It will be after midnight for those who live in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Des Moines and Salt Lake City. In the most extreme cases, this could be after 12:30 p.m. on daylight saving time clocks in some cities that are far west of their standard time meridians, such as Boise, Bismarck, Indianapolis, and Flint.
The show continues in early summer
On May 21, look for Venus shining beneath the “twin stars” of the constellation Gemini, Castor and Pollux. To the upper left of the Gemini twins shines Mars and far to the lower right of Venus will be a slender crescent moon. The following night, the moon will be closer to Venus.
On June 4, it reaches its greatest eastern elongation. It will then be 45 degrees from the sun, or one-eighth of a turn from the ecliptic. At magnitude -4.3, the planet will certainly be eye-catching, almost twice as bright as it appears to us now.
Just after sunset on June 21 – the first day of summer – look west-northwest for a lovely crescent moon accompanied in the lower left by Venus.
By July, repeated observation of Venus with a small telescope will show the full range of its phases and disk sizes. The planet currently displays a tiny dazzling gibbous disk (93% illuminated). It will become noticeably less gibbous in mid-spring.
In early June, Venus reaches dichotomy (displaying a “half-moon” shape). Then, from the rest of spring until early summer, it displays a larger and larger crescent as it swings close to Earth. Indeed, those using telescopes will notice that as the Earth-Venus distance decreases, the apparent size of Venus’ disk will increase, doubling its current size by May 27. When it doubles in size again on July 16, its large crescent shape should be easily discernible, even with 7-power binoculars held tight.
Transition in the pre-dawn sky
The time Venus reaches the peak of its great brilliance is midway between greatest elongation and conjunction with the sun – July 7 – when it reaches a jaw-dropping magnitude of -4.7. With this burst of glory, Venus will then glide rapidly through solar glare, setting just before 2 hours after the sun and shortly before the end of evening twilight that night.
By the end of July, however, it won’t set until about 25 minutes after sunset and will have given up its status as a prominent evening item.
But the “Venus Show” won’t be over, as a rehearsal begins in mid-August, this time against the morning sky and with the sequence of events reversed, reaching its climax again on September 19, shining like a beacon in the sky. eastern sky before dawn.
On November 9, be sure to set your alarm clock for 5 a.m., then head to a spot with stunning views to the east-northeast to see the most spectacular Venus/Moon pairing of 2023 Finally, on Christmas morning, those attending morning services will see Venus shine like a bright “star in the east” rising nearly three hours before the sun.
It really is the year of Venus!
If you don’t have all the gear you need to see Venus this year, our guides to the best telescopes and binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to snap photos of Venus or anything else in the night sky, check out our guides to 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 photo(s), comments, and name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Joe Rao is an instructor and guest speaker at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes on astronomy for natural history reviewthem Farmers 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).
