Venus back in evening sky by late August
This is a nighttime image of a crescent moon near the planet Venus, taken April 19, 2007.
Credit: Raymond Shobe
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Last June, the planet Venus swung behind the sun, going from the morning to the evening sky.
But – although Venus has been an evening object for a couple of months already – it’s just now beginning to return to visibility at mid-northern latitudes. With an unobstructed horizon, mid-northerners can catch this blazing world low in the west 30 to 45 minutes after sunset. Not long after that, Venus will follow the sun below the western horizon.
The story is different in the southern hemisphere. At mid-southern latitudes, like in southern Australia and New Zealand, Venus stays out twice as long after sunset than it does at mid-northern latitudes.
So, the farther south you live, the later Venus sets after sundown. That’s because it’s late winter and approaching springtime in the southern hemisphere now. At this season, the ecliptic – or pathway of the sun, moon and planets – arcs high across the sky. So the southern part of Earth sees Venus higher in the sky at sunset and shining longer after sundown than we do on the northern part of the globe.
By the way, another inner planet – Mercury – pairs up with Venus in the west after sunset for the next several weeks. You might need binoculars to see Mercury in the twilight. Mercury is much fainter than Venus.
At these mid-southern latitudes, Venus stays out for some 100 minutes after sunset. At middle latitudes north of the equator, Venus sets about 50 minutes after the sun.
