Venus will reach half phase in its 2017 morning apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag -4.3.
From Cambridge , this apparition will not be one of the most prominent but prominent, reaching a peak altitude of 31° above the horizon at sunrise on 2 Aug 2017.
2017 morning apparition of Venus
| 25 Mar 2017 | – | Venus at inferior solar conjunction |
| 26 Apr 2017 | – | Venus at greatest brightness |
| 03 Jun 2017 | – | Venus at greatest elongation west |
| 04 Jun 2017 | – | Venus at dichotomy |
| 02 Aug 2017 | – | Venus at highest altitude in morning sky |
| 09 Jan 2018 | – | Venus at superior solar conjunction |
The table below lists the altitude of Venus at sunrise over the course of the apparition. All times are given in Cambridge local time.
| Date | Sun rises at |
Venus rises at |
Altitude at sunrise |
Direction at sunrise |
Mag | Phase |
| 04 May 2017 | 05:33 | 03:52 | 18° | east | -4.5 | 30% |
| 14 May 2017 | 05:21 | 03:35 | 19° | east | -4.5 | 37% |
| 24 May 2017 | 05:12 | 03:19 | 20° | east | -4.4 | 44% |
| 03 Jun 2017 | 05:07 | 03:04 | 22° | east | -4.3 | 49% |
| 13 Jun 2017 | 05:04 | 02:51 | 24° | east | -4.2 | 55% |
| 23 Jun 2017 | 05:05 | 02:40 | 26° | east | -4.2 | 59% |
| 03 Jul 2017 | 05:10 | 02:33 | 27° | east | -4.1 | 64% |
| 13 Jul 2017 | 05:17 | 02:29 | 29° | east | -4.1 | 68% |
| 23 Jul 2017 | 05:25 | 02:29 | 30° | east | -4.0 | 71% |
| 02 Aug 2017 | 05:35 | 02:35 | 31° | east | -4.0 | 75% |
| 12 Aug 2017 | 05:46 | 02:47 | 31° | east | -4.0 | 78% |
| 22 Aug 2017 | 05:56 | 03:03 | 30° | east | -4.0 | 81% |
| 01 Sep 2017 | 06:07 | 03:22 | 29° | east | -4.0 | 84% |
| 11 Sep 2017 | 06:18 | 03:44 | 27° | east | -3.9 | 86% |
| 21 Sep 2017 | 06:28 | 04:07 | 25° | east | -3.9 | 89% |
| 01 Oct 2017 | 06:39 | 04:31 | 23° | east | -3.9 | 91% |
| 11 Oct 2017 | 06:50 | 04:55 | 20° | east | -3.9 | 93% |
| 21 Oct 2017 | 07:02 | 05:19 | 18° | east | -3.9 | 94% |
Altitude of Venus at sunrise
A graph of the phase of Venus is available here.
Apparitions of Venus
| 06 Jun 2015 | – | Evening apparition |
| 26 Oct 2015 | – | Morning apparition |
| 12 Jan 2017 | – | Evening apparition |
| 03 Jun 2017 | – | Morning apparition |
| 17 Aug 2018 | – | Evening apparition |
| 06 Jan 2019 | – | Morning apparition |
| 24 Mar 2020 | – | Evening apparition |
Observing Venus
Venus's orbit lies closer to the Sun than the Earth's, meaning that 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. These apparitions repeat roughly once every 1.6 years.
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.
Venus's phase
Venus's phase varies depending on its position relative to the Earth. When it passes between the Earth and Sun, for example, the side that is turned towards the Earth is entirely unilluminated, like a new moon.
Conversely, when it lies opposite to the Earth in its orbit, passing almost behind the Sun, it appears fully illuminated, like a full moon. However, at this time it is also at its most distant from the Earth, so it is actually fainter than at other times.
Venus shows an intermediate half phase – called dichotomy – at roughly the same moment that it appears furthest from the Sun, at greatest elongation. The exact times of the two events may differ by a few days, only because Venus's orbit is not quite perfectly aligned with the ecliptic.
Venus's position
The coordinates of Venus when it reaches dichotomy will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Angular Size |
| Venus | 01h46m20s | 8°31'N | Pisces | 23.6" |
| Sun | 04h48m | 22°25'N | Taurus | 31'31" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 4 Jun 2017
| The sky on 4 June 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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80% 10 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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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
| 03 Jun 2017 | – Venus at greatest elongation west |
| 02 Aug 2017 | – Venus at highest altitude in morning sky |
| 06 Jun 2018 | – Venus at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 17 Aug 2018 | – Venus at greatest elongation east |
Image credit
© NASA/Ricardo Nunes