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 continues its reign as the evening star at the beginning of 2020. This western apparition favours the northern hemisphere, with the bright planet ascending to over 40° in altitude. It dips below the western horizon at the beginning of June, undergoing inferior conjunction and re-emerging in the east before sunrise later in the month. Northern temperate and tropical latitudes are again favoured, with the morning star less high in the sky as seen from the southern hemisphere. Venus is brightest in late April and early July (magnitude −4.5).
- 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 34.4°, illuminated fraction 82.2%, magnitude −4.0, disk diameter 13.2 arc-seconds |
| 11 January | Capricornus → Aquarius |
| 27 January | planetary conjunction: 0.1° south of Neptune |
| 01 February | elongation 40.4°, illuminated fraction 73.4%, magnitude −4.1, disk diameter 15.4 arc-seconds |
| 02 February | Aquarius → Pisces |
| 15 February | ascending node |
| 01 March | elongation 44.6°, illuminated fraction 62.7%, magnitude −4.2, disk diameter 18.9 arc-seconds |
| 04 March | Pisces → Aries |
| 08 March | planetary conjunction: 2.2° north of Uranus |
| 20 March | perihelion |
| 24 March | greatest elongation east: 46.1° |
| 27 March | dichotomy |
| 30 March | Aries → Taurus |
| 01 April | elongation 45.9°, illuminated fraction 47.0%, magnitude −4.4, disk diameter 25.7 arc-seconds |
| 03 April | 0.3° south of the open star cluster M45 (known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters) |
| 01 May | elongation 38.3°, illuminated fraction 24.7%, magnitude −4.5, disk diameter 39.2 arc-seconds |
| 04 May | maximum declination north |
| 13 May | stationary point: direct → retrograde |
| 22 May | planetary conjunction: 0.9° north of Mercury |
| 01 June | elongation 4.5°, illuminated fraction 0.3%, magnitude −3.8, disk diameter 58.1 arc-seconds |
| 03 June | inferior conjunction |
| 05 June | descending node |
| 19 June | lunar occultation: 0.7° south of the Moon |
| 24 June | stationary point: retrograde → direct |
| 01 July | elongation 33.9°, illuminated fraction 18.5%, magnitude −4.5, disk diameter 43.4 arc-seconds |
| 10 July | aphelion |
| 11 July | 1.0° north of the Aldebaran |
| 01 August | elongation 45.2°, illuminated fraction 42.9%, magnitude −4.4, disk diameter 27.4 arc-seconds |
| 05 August | Taurus → Orion |
| 12 August | dichotomy |
| 13 August | Orion → Gemini |
| greatest elongation west: 45.8° | |
| 01 September | elongation 44.8°, illuminated fraction 59.5%, magnitude −4.2, disk diameter 19.7 arc-seconds |
| 04 September | Gemini → Cancer |
| 13 September | 2.5° south of the open star cluster M44 (known as Praesepe or the Beehive Cluster) |
| 22 September | Cancer → Leo |
| 26 September | ascending node |
| 01 October | elongation 40.5°, illuminated fraction 71.6%, magnitude −4.1, disk diameter 15.7 arc-seconds |
| 02 October | 0.1° south of Regulus |
| 22 October | Leo → Virgo |
| 30 October | perihelion |
| 01 November | elongation 34.3°, illuminated fraction 81.4%, magnitude −4.0, disk diameter 13.2 arc-seconds |
| 27 November | Virgo → Libra |
| 01 December | elongation 27.6°, illuminated fraction 88.7%, magnitude −4.0, disk diameter 11.8 arc-seconds |
| 12 December | lunar occultation: 0.8° south of the Moon |
| 17 December | Libra → Scorpius |
| 21 December | Scorpius → Ophiuchus |
| 31 December | maximum declination south |
