Venus after sunset 2024: Back in the evening sky soon

Venus will hang low in the west about 30 minutes after sunset on the last few evenings of July. Tiny Mercury will lie near Venus as well. Look for them in the bright evening twilight. Venus sets about 50 minutes after the sun. Chart via EarthSky.

When to watch: In 2024, Venus will emerge after sunset at the end of July. It will remain visible in the evening sky throughout the rest of the year. Greatest elongation – when Venus will be farthest from the sunset – happens on January 9-10, 2025. Afterwards, Venus will quickly sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-March 2025.
Where to look: Look in the sunset direction while the sky is darkening. You can’t miss Venus as the dazzling evening “star.”
Greatest elongation is at 4 UTC on January 10, 2024. That’s 10 p.m. CST on January 9. Venus will appear in our evening sky, in the west after sunset. At this elongation, the distance of Venus from the sun on the sky’s dome is 47.2 degrees.
Magnitude at greatest elongation: Venus shines at magnitude -4.4.
Through a telescope: Venus appears 51% illuminated, near a first quarter phase, 24.5 arcseconds across.
Note: As the sun’s 2nd planet, Venus is bound by an invisible tether to the sun in our sky. It’s always east before sunrise, or west after sunset (never overhead at midnight). Venus is the brightest planet visible from Earth and shines brilliantly throughout every morning or evening apparition. Greatest elongation happens when Venus is farthest from the sun on the sky’s dome.

For precise sun and Venus rising times at your location:

Old Farmer’s Almanac (U.S. and Canada)

timeanddate.com (worldwide)

Stellarium (free online planetarium program)

Venus after sunset in 2024 Northern Hemisphere

Look for Venus after sunset starting in late July. Venus’s greatest evening elongation in 2024 from the Northern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2024 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

Venus’s greatest evening elongation in 2024 from the Southern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2024 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

A comparison of elongations

Not all of Venus’s greatest elongations are created equal. That’s because the farthest from the sun that Venus can ever appear on the sky’s dome is about 47.3 degrees. On the other hand, the least distance is around 45.4 degrees.

Elongations are also higher or lower depending on the time of year they occur and your location on Earth.

A comparison chart of Venus elongations in 2024. Gray areas represent evening apparitions (eastward elongation). Blue areas represent morning apparitions (westward elongation). The top figures are the maximum elongations, reached at the top dates shown beneath. Curves show the altitude of the planet above the horizon at sunrise or sunset, for latitude 40 degrees north (thick line) and 35 degrees south (thin). Maxima are reached at the parenthesized dates below (40 degrees north bold). Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2024 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

Venus events from late 2024 and 2025

Note: Times listed are in UTC.

June 4, 2024: Superior conjunction (passed behind sun from Earth)
January 10, 2025: Greatest elongation (evening)
March 23, 2025: Inferior conjunction (races between Earth and sun)
May 31, 2025: Greatest elongation (morning)

Bottom line: At greatest eastern elongation on January 9-10, 2024, Venus is as far from the sunset as it will be for this evening apparition.

The post Venus after sunset 2024: Back in the evening sky soon first appeared on EarthSky.

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