© NASA/Ricardo Nunes

Venus at dichotomy

Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Inner Planets feed

Objects: Venus
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Venus will reach half phase in its 2055–2056 morning apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag -4.4.

From Ashburn , this apparition will be exceptionally well placed and prominent, reaching a peak altitude of 43° above the horizon at sunrise on 14 Oct 2055.

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2055–2056 morning apparition of Venus

03 Aug 2055 – Venus at inferior solar conjunction
08 Sep 2055 – Venus at greatest brightness
13 Oct 2055 – Venus at dichotomy
14 Oct 2055 – Venus at highest altitude in morning sky
14 Oct 2055 – Venus at greatest elongation west
26 May 2056 – Venus at superior solar conjunction

A graph of the phase of Venus is available here.

Apparitions of Venus

19 Oct 2053 – Evening apparition
11 Mar 2054 – Morning apparition
26 May 2055 – Evening apparition
14 Oct 2055 – Morning apparition
31 Dec 2056 – Evening apparition
22 May 2057 – Morning apparition
05 Aug 2058 – 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 10h18m30s 9°37'N Leo 24.2"
Sun 13h11m 7°33'S Virgo 32'03"

The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 29 Mar 2024

The sky on 29 March 2024
Sunrise
06:56
Sunset
19:30
Twilight ends
21:01
Twilight begins
05:25

19-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

81%

19 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 07:25 14:12 20:58
Venus 06:23 12:11 17:59
Moon 23:04 04:01 08:52
Mars 05:41 11:08 16:35
Jupiter 08:39 15:36 22:33
Saturn 06:03 11:39 17:15
All times shown in EDT.

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

26 May 2055  –  Venus at greatest elongation east
14 Oct 2055  –  Venus at highest altitude in morning sky
14 Oct 2055  –  Venus at greatest elongation west
31 Dec 2056  –  Venus at greatest elongation east

Image credit

© NASA/Ricardo Nunes

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Ashburn

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39.04°N
77.49°W
EDT

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