The upper chart shows the path of Venus across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +4.5 are shown with some fainter objects included to complete constellation patterns. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction. As an inferior planet, Venus never strays far from the Sun so it always begins and ends the year near the constellation of Sagittarius, located about one quarter of the way in from the left side of the chart.
The lower charts show how the appearance of Venus changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au), the elongation from the Sun (in degrees) and the percentage of the disk which is illuminated. Like the Moon, Venus exhibits a complete range of phases, from new to crescent to gibbous to full and back again. Unlike the Moon, however, Venus takes over a year to complete this phase cycle. Note how Venus is at its brightest during its crescent phase, when it is relatively close to the Earth.
Venus remains too close to the Sun to observe for the first month or so of the year, finally appearing low in the west as the evening star by late February. This apparition favours observers in equatorial and southern regions. It passes close to Regulus in July and Spica two months later. Venus eventually loses altitude and is gone from view in October (early in the month for the northern hemisphere and very late in the month for the southern hemisphere) when it reaches inferior conjunction on 26 October. It quickly reappears in November as the morning star where it remains for the rest of the year.
- Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 50° North
- Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 10° North
- Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 30° South
| 01 January | elongation 2.0°, illuminated fraction 99.9%, magnitude −3.9, disk diameter 9.8 arc-seconds |
| maximum declination south | |
| 09 January | superior conjunction |
| 17 January | Sagittarius → Capricornus |
| 23 January | aphelion |
| 01 February | elongation 5.6°, illuminated fraction 99.6%, magnitude −3.9, disk diameter 9.9 arc-seconds |
| 08 February | Capricornus → Aquarius |
| 16 February | occultation by the Moon — not visible |
| 01 March | elongation 12.3°, illuminated fraction 97.9%, magnitude −3.9, disk diameter 10.1 arc-seconds |
| 02 March | Aquarius → Pisces |
| 05 March | 1.4° north of Mercury |
| 12 March | Pisces → Cetus |
| 14 March | Cetus → Pisces |
| 30 March | Pisces → Aries |
| 01 April | elongation 19.8°, illuminated fraction 94.2%, magnitude −3.9, disk diameter 10.7 arc-seconds |
| 12 April | ascending node |
| 19 April | Aries → Taurus |
| 01 May | elongation 27.1°, illuminated fraction 88.5%, magnitude −3.9, disk diameter 11.6 arc-seconds |
| 15 May | perihelion |
| 19 May | Taurus → Gemini |
| 22 May | maximum declination north |
| 01 June | elongation 34.4°, illuminated fraction 80.2%, magnitude −4.0, disk diameter 13.2 arc-seconds |
| 12 June | Gemini → Cancer |
| 16 June | 2.0° north of the Moon |
| 20 June | 0.7° north of the open star cluster M44 (known as Praesepe or the Beehive Cluster) |
| 29 June | Cancer → Leo |
| 01 July | elongation 40.6°, illuminated fraction 70.0%, magnitude −4.1, disk diameter 15.9 arc-seconds |
| 09 July | 1.1° north of Regulus |
| 16 July | 1.6° south of the Moon |
| 01 August | elongation 45.1°, illuminated fraction 57.0%, magnitude −4.2, disk diameter 20.6 arc-seconds |
| Leo → Virgo | |
| descending node | |
| 17 August | greatest elongation east: 45.9° |
| 01 September | elongation 45.1°, illuminated fraction 40.3%, magnitude −4.4, disk diameter 29.4 arc-seconds |
| 02 September | 1.4° south of Spica |
| 05 September | aphelion |
| 25 September | maximum magnitude −4.6 |
| 01 October | elongation 33.3°, illuminated fraction 16.7%, magnitude −4.5, disk diameter 46.6 arc-seconds |
| Virgo → Libra | |
| 05 October | stationary point: direct → retrograde |
| 08 October | Libra → Virgo |
| 26 October | inferior conjunction |
| 01 November | elongation 10.0°, illuminated fraction 1.1%, magnitude −4.1, disk diameter 61.1 arc-seconds |
| 14 November | stationary point: retrograde → direct |
| 22 November | ascending node |
| 30 November | maximum magnitude −4.7 |
| 01 December | elongation 39.6°, illuminated fraction 25.7%, magnitude −4.7, disk diameter 41.0 arc-seconds |
| 13 December | Virgo → Libra |
| 26 December | perihelion |
