You will have noticed in recent weeks that the planet Venus has slipped from the post-sunset sky, slimming right into a crescent shape because it drops from view. Its reign as the brilliant “Evening Star” in 2023 is over, as a comparatively rare celestial phenomenon takes shape.
On Aug. 13, Venus will seem like between Earth and the sun, which astronomers describe as being at inferior conjunction. It’s purely a line-of-sight phenomenon, and from Earth’s standpoint it will possibly only occur to 2 planets within the solar system — Mercury and Venus — each of that are inferior planets, which suggests they’re closer to the sun than Earth. The outer planets, which lie farther from the sun than Earth, are called superior planets by astronomers.
One other way of understanding Venus at inferior conjunction is to think about it as in its “latest” phase, much as a brand new moon sits between Earth and the sun. Identical to a brand new moon, Venus at inferior conjunction shall be virtually invisible to us on Earth. On Aug. 13, the planet shall be completely lost within the sun’s glare and inconceivable to look at. This phenomenon happens once every 19 months, in response to EarthSky, because Venus’ orbit across the sun takes just 225 days (compared with Earth’s 365).
As Venus has been approaching inferior conjunction, it has been thinning to a slim crescent, just because the moon becomes a waning crescent on its option to becoming a brand new moon. Appearing closer to the sun with each passing day, Venus has been sinking lower to the horizon within the post-sunset western sky. In addition to losing latitude, it is also been losing light. Because the angle between it and the sun has been reducing, on Earth we have been capable of see less and fewer sunlight reflected from Venus.
Venus won’t appear to cross the sun’s disk on Aug. 13, as an alternative passing just 7.7 degrees to its south and be just 0.9% illuminated, in response to BBC Sky At Night magazine. The moment when the planet appears to pass across the disk of the sun as seen from Earth is named a transit of Venus, which last happened on June 5 to six, 2012. A transit won’t occur again until Dec. 10 to 11, 2117.
Venus’ trip into the sun’s glare shall be temporary. Venus and Earth are in an 8:13 resonance, so from Earth’s standpoint, Venus orbits the sun 13 times in every eight Earth years, in response to The Planetary Society. Every week or two after its inferior conjunction, Venus could have moved sufficiently away from the sun’s glare to emerge into the dawn sky and start its appearance because the “Morning Star”. It’ll reach its highest point within the sky on Oct. 23 because it appears 46.4 degrees west of the sun, in response to Astro Pixels. That farthest point from the sun is named its best elongation west.
Venus reached superior conjunction (appearing to go behind the sun) on June 4, 2024, achieving its best elongation east within the post-sunset sky on Jan. 10, 2025, in response to Timeanddate.com.
In case you’re trying to photograph Venus, the upcoming Perseid meteor shower or the night sky usually, don’t miss our guide on how you can photograph meteor showers, in addition to our greatest cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.