2 February: today’s theme is Venus

Venus seen as a half-lit pale sphere in space. No detail is visible.
Venus, photographed on 2 January 2025 by Martin Lewis from St Albans, UK

Venus – just going through a phase…

Millions of people have seen Venus in the past few weeks, without even trying – it’s that brilliant evening star in the western twilight sky after sunset. This beautiful sight led to the planet being associated the Roman goddess of love and beauty. But the Romans had no idea what a truly terrifying world Venus really is.

Because Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth, the planet goes through phases just like the Moon as it appears at different angles to the Sun. When it first appears low down in the evening twilight it’s on the far side of the Sun and is just a tiny dot as seen through a telescope. Then after several months it has come closer in its orbit around the Sun and appears as it does in the photo above, with the Sun shining on its right half as seen from Earth.

Venus as seen on the livestream broadcast on 1 February 2025 by David Arditti from Edgware, in the London suburbs. North is upwards

The photo above shows the change in Venus’s appearance over a month since the photo at the top of the page was taken. You can see the live video capture of images from which it was processed by viewing the livestream broadcast on YouTube.

After National Astronomy Week it comes even closer to Earth and gets larger, but by this time it’s more in line with the Sun and it becomes a crescent. This also means it’s much lower in the sky. In 2025 this happens in the middle of March, so if you can find it then just after sunset take a look through binoculars (10 magnification or more) and you will actually see it as a tiny crescent!

Venus as a distant globe on the far side of its orbit (233 million km away) and as a thin crescent, on the near side of its orbit (42 million km away).
Pic: Robin Scagell

But no matter how large your telescope, you are unlikely to see any surface details on Venus, other than a few vague smudges, because the planet is completely covered by dense cloud. This is what makes it so bright in the sky, but these clouds are a sign that all is not well down on the surface. We’ve a page that tells you all about conditions on Venus – but here’s a warning: it’s not for the faint-hearted! And take a look at the video below from Aman Sandhur of RAL Space on why Venus is his favourite planet!

Four fun facts about Venus

The planet’s day is actually longer than its year. It goes round the Sun in 225 days, but it turns on its axis every 243 days.

Not only that, but the spin is in the opposite direction from all the other planets, apart from distant Uranus. Maybe something went on between them in the distant past….

Venus is almost exactly the same size as Earth. So if you could stand on the surface, you would weigh about the same. But Venus’s surface is extremely inhospitable, so it has been called ‘Earth’s evil sister’.

Venus can get so bright that it can actually cast shadows. You have to be in a really dark location to see this, but it can happen. When it does, the ground shimmers in the dim light because Venus is such a tiny object that air currents create patterns on the ground.

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