In December 2024, Venus – Earth’s brightest planet – is shining in the western twilight after sunset. It’ll remain visible in the evening sky through the rest of this year. Greatest elongation – when Venus will be farthest from the sunset – will come on January 9-10, 2025. You can’t miss Venus! It’s exceedingly bright and will penetrate the bright twilight. What fun!
So, in December, look in the sunset direction while the sky is darkening. As the weeks pass, Venus will appear higher and higher above the sunset. And it’s finally be visible in a dark sky this month, setting a few hours after sunset by month’s end. You can’t miss it as the dazzling evening “star.”
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)
When will greatest elongation occur?
Greatest elongation is at 4 UTC on January 10, 2025. 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. After greatest elongation, Venus will quickly sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-March 2025.
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.
Venus after sunset in 2024 Northern Hemisphere
Venus after sunset in 2024 Southern Hemisphere
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.
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: Look for Venus after sunset! It’s high enough in December’s sky for all to see. It’ll be farthest from the sunset in early January, 2025. Look west for a dazzling point!
The post Venus after sunset: Shining brightly in December first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/yHR8Pos
In December 2024, Venus – Earth’s brightest planet – is shining in the western twilight after sunset. It’ll remain visible in the evening sky through the rest of this year. Greatest elongation – when Venus will be farthest from the sunset – will come on January 9-10, 2025. You can’t miss Venus! It’s exceedingly bright and will penetrate the bright twilight. What fun!
So, in December, look in the sunset direction while the sky is darkening. As the weeks pass, Venus will appear higher and higher above the sunset. And it’s finally be visible in a dark sky this month, setting a few hours after sunset by month’s end. You can’t miss it as the dazzling evening “star.”
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)
When will greatest elongation occur?
Greatest elongation is at 4 UTC on January 10, 2025. 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. After greatest elongation, Venus will quickly sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-March 2025.
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.
Venus after sunset in 2024 Northern Hemisphere
Venus after sunset in 2024 Southern Hemisphere
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.
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: Look for Venus after sunset! It’s high enough in December’s sky for all to see. It’ll be farthest from the sunset in early January, 2025. Look west for a dazzling point!
The post Venus after sunset: Shining brightly in December first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/yHR8Pos
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