SkyEye

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 opens the year in low in the west at sunset, soon disappearing below the horizon and reappearing in the morning skies for most of the year. This is an excellent apparition for equatorial and southern latitudes but very disappointing for observers much farther north. The evening star returns at the end of October. Venus is at its brightest in mid-February when it reaches magnitude −4.6.

• 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

Sources

The dates, times and circumstances of all planetary and lunar phenomena were calculated from the JPL DE406 solar system ephemeris using the same rigorous methods that are employed in the compilation of publications such as The Astronomical Almanac. Dates of dichotomy are taken from 'Theoretical Dichotomy of Venus, 2000–2040', Jean Meeus, Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 110 (2), 83 (April 2000).