Venus the second planet from the Sun

Venus is the brightest point of light up there (barring airplanes, UFOs, supernovas, etc.). Venus will always be visible as the bright evening star for a few hours after sunset or as the bright morning star a few hours before the Sun rises. Venus and Mercury are the only planets that are in orbits between us and the Sun so therefore show phases like the moon. There are times when Venus is not visible in the sky at all. This happens when Venus is more or less behind the Sun. Venus is always 100 percent covered by clouds. This makes it very bright and there is very little to see except the phases.

Because the planets are always moving, in relation to the stars around them, there is no way I can point you directly to them without providing monthly or bi-monthly starmaps. Even so you can still find Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn due to their brightness. It will help to get a copy of Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazine for the present month to know where, when, and if these planets are visible.
These magazines provide monthly sky charts showing the planets. A free software program called Home Planet can be very useful for finding Planets. It can be down loaded by following the above link.


Created: 5/30/00 Updated: 3/22/01