by Venus was in retrograde on August 13, on the line between the Earth and the sun. Now it hangs on that line, speeding ahead of Earth in its fast orbit.
After all, Venus has been bursting into view in the eastern morning sky for the past few weeks. When September opened, this bright “Morning Star” rose just before the first dawn at about 4:30 am local time. But with each passing morning, Venus has been rising higher and getting a little brighter; it will attain its greatest brightness on September 19, appearing at an incredible magnitude of 4.8. This is 23 times brilliantly as the brightest star in the sky, Sirius (in Canis Major, the Big Dog), and seven times as bright as the next planet, Jupiter.
And at the end of the month, it rises just before 3:30 in the morning and will precede the sun by three and a half hours!
Related: The night sky, September 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Try looking for Venus in the daytime sky. It can be done if you know exactly where to look.
Perhaps the best way is to keep it looking until after sunrise. At its current extreme brightness, it can be seen as a small white dot on a blue background during the day.
Those who live in the countryside far from any outside light have reported that Venus can cast a faint, but distinct shadow.
Large illuminated size
For many years astrological almanacs and calendars would make reference to the day when Venus reached its highest brightness: “Venus in great skill.” But since 2009, a new type of nomenclature has appeared to describe this phenomenon: “Venus in the bright phase.”
When Venus appears as a full or nearly full disk, it appears smaller in angular size through telescopes. That’s because Venus is on the opposite side of the sun as seen from Earth – about 160 million kilometers (257 million miles) away. Conversely, when Venus passes close to Earth – 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) – its disk swells significantly; about 1/30 the apparent size of the full moon. But because most of the dark side of Venus faces Earth, all we see is a very thin disk, probably not more than a few percent illuminated by the sun.
Somewhere between these two extremes, is compliance, where Venus appears large, while showing a significant fraction of the illuminated portion of its disk. That comes when the disk of Venus appears quarter-illuminated – much more than a hairline crescent – and at the same time, it is about 66 million kilometers from us and its apparent size of the disk is approx. two-thirds of it is when it looks big.
Thus, the maximum luminous intensity of Venus’ disk corresponds to its maximum brightness.
And interestingly, its peak brightness this month is not limited to just one day, but runs from September 16 to September 26. So, through the telescope in September, it shows a large, bright and beautiful disc at every stage. per month while shrinking in size.
When September opened, Venus was illuminated at only 12 percent, but by the end of the month, that number will have increased to 36 percent; but because it will be 17 million miles (27 million km) from Earth, it will appear more than one-third smaller than it did at the beginning of the month.
Meetings of planets, stars and the moon
On the same morning Venus is superlative (Sept. 19), wait until one hour before sunrise and then, using your clenched fist at arm’s length (measuring 10 degrees in diameter), go about “two fists” to Venus. ‘ lower left to see tiny Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system.
Also, in the coming weeks, Venus will float closer to the bright 1st-magnitude star Regulus in Leo the Lion. By the end of this month, Venus and this blush star will be separated by about 8 degrees.
And come October 10, as Venus passes about 2.5 degrees below Regulus, the lovely moon will pass just north of both star and planet and will make an eye-catching sight in our pre-dawn sky.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Venus, our guide to the best binoculars is a great place to find wide optics that can give you a great view of the planet on the go. But if you want to get a closer look at the thin disk of Venus in the night sky, check out our guides to the best telescopes or the best budget telescopes.
And if you’re looking to take photos of Venus or the night sky in general, check out our guide to how to photograph the planets, as well as our best astrophotography cameras and best astrophotography lenses.
An oldie, but a goodie
Thoughts of gazing at Venus often remind me of a funny story told by George Lovi (1939-1993) a famous astronomy lecturer and author who is also a good friend of mine. I’ve told this story on Space.com before, but it’s worth telling again.
One night, while George was running a public evening at the Brooklyn College Observatory in New York, the telescope was pointed right at Venus which – like now – was showing its soft state. Yet another student looking through the eyepiece telescope insisted that he was not looking at Venus, but at the moon instead. When George said the moon was not in the sky, the student replied, “So what? Doesn’t a telescope show you things you can’t see without it?”
Joe Rao works as a lecturer and guest lecturer in New York Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy Magazine of Natural Historyi The Farmer’s Almanac and other publications.
Editor’s Note: If you take a picture of Venus and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
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