As seen from Cambridge , Venus will reach its highest point in the sky in its 2003–2004 evening apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag -4.4.
From Cambridge, this apparition will be well placed and prominent, reaching a peak altitude of 42° above the horizon at sunset on 29 Mar 2004.
2003–2004 evening apparition of Venus
| 18 Aug 2003 | – | Venus at superior solar conjunction |
| 28 Mar 2004 | – | Venus at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 28 Mar 2004 | – | Venus at greatest elongation east |
| 31 Mar 2004 | – | Venus at dichotomy |
| 03 May 2004 | – | Venus at greatest brightness |
| 08 Jun 2004 | – | Venus at inferior solar conjunction |
A graph of the angular separation of Venus from the Sun around the time of greatest elongation is available here.
Apparitions of Venus
| 07 Jun 2001 | – | Morning apparition |
| 21 Aug 2002 | – | Evening apparition |
| 11 Jan 2003 | – | Morning apparition |
| 28 Mar 2004 | – | Evening apparition |
| 18 Aug 2004 | – | Morning apparition |
| 03 Nov 2005 | – | Evening apparition |
| 25 Mar 2006 | – | Morning apparition |
Observing Venus
Venus's orbit lies closer to the Sun than the Earth's, meaning it always appears close to the Sun and is lost in the Sun's glare much of the time.
It is observable for a few months each time it reaches greatest separation from the Sun – moments referred to as greatest elongation.
On these occasions, Venus is so bright and conspicuous that it becomes the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. It is often called the morning star or the evening star.
These apparitions repeat roughly once every 1.6 years, taking place alternately in the morning and evening skies, depending whether Venus lies to the east of the Sun or to the west.
When it lies to the east, it rises and sets a short time after the Sun and is visible in early evening twilight. When it lies to the west of the Sun, it rises and sets a short time before the Sun and is visible shortly before sunrise.
At each apparition, Venus reaches a maximum separation from the Sun of around 48°. However, some times of the year are more favourable for viewing Venus than others. From Cambridge, it reaches a maximum altitude of between 18° and 45° above the horizon at sunset during each evening apparition, depending on the time of year. During its 2003–2004 apparition, it will peak at 42° above the horizon at sunset on 29 Mar 2004.
This variability over the course of the year is due to the inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon.
The inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon
At all times, Venus lies close to a line across the sky called the ecliptic, which is shown in yellow in the planetarium above. This line traces the path that the Sun takes through the zodiacal constellations every year, and shows the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Since all the planets circle the Sun in almost exactly the same plane, it also closely follows the planes of the orbits of the other planets, too.
When Venus is widely separated from the Sun, it is separated from it along the line of the ecliptic. But, at different times of year, the ecliptic meets the horizon at different angles at sunset. This means that Venus appears at different altitudes above the horizon at different times of year, even if its separation from the Sun is the same.
If the ecliptic meets the horizon at a shallow angle, then Venus has to be very widely separated from the Sun to appear much above the horizon. Conversely, if the ecliptic is almost perpendicular to the horizon, Venus may appear much higher in the sky, even if it is actually much closer to the Sun.
At sunset, the ecliptic makes its steepest angle to the horizon at the spring equinox – in March in the northern hemisphere, and in September in the southern hemisphere. Conversely, it meets the horizon at its shallowest angle at the autumn equinox. Because the seasons are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres, a good apparition of Venus in one hemisphere will usually be poorly placed in the other.
At sunrise, these dates are also inverted, so that for morning apparitions of Venus, the ecliptic makes its steepest angle to the horizon at the autumn equinox, and its shallowest angle to the horizon at the spring equinox.
The optimum time for an apparition of Venus
For this reason, the day when Venus reaches its widest separation from the Sun (greatest elongation) is not necessarily the same day when it appears highest in the sky at sunset. Venus typically appears highest in the sky a few days or weeks closer to the spring equinox than the moment of greatest elongation.
The inclination of the ecliptic plane to the horizon at Cambridge varies between 71° (sunset at the spring equinox) and 24° (sunset at the autumn equinox). On March 29, the ecliptic is inclined at 70° to the western sunset horizon, as shown by the yellow line in the planetarium above, meaning that this apparition of Venus will be well placed and prominent, reaching a peak altitude of 42° above the horizon at sunset.
Venus's position
The position of Venus when it reaches its highest point will be:
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 22 Nov 2024
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53% 21 days old |
All times shown in EST.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 28 Mar 2004 | – Venus at greatest elongation east |
| 08 Jun 2004 | – Transit of Venus |
| 18 Aug 2004 | – Venus at greatest elongation west |
| 05 Sep 2004 | – Venus at highest altitude in morning sky |
Image credit
© NASA/Ricardo Nunes