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Brilliant Venus shines brightly from the eastern sky this morning. For the next several days, Venus and Sirius appear in the sky together. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and Venus is the brightest planet.
Sirius’ brightness in our sky is from its intrinsic brightness and its distance from us, about 9 light years.
As a planet Venus shines from reflected sunlight. It is near our planet, about 130 million miles this morning, and it has highly reflective clouds.
With these factors, Venus shines nearly 10 times brighter than Sirius.
For more information about sky watching events:
- 2017, October 5: Venus-Mars Conjunction
- 2017, November 13: Venus-Jupiter Epoch Conjunction
- 2017 Evening Planets
- 2017 Morning Planets
- Venus as a Morning Star, 2017
- Chart and Image Collection
- Jupiter’s Year with Spica: A Triple Conjunction
- 2018: Mars Perihelic Opposition
- 2017-2019: Mars Observing Year with a Perihelic Opposition, July 27, 2018