After many days of raining and cloudy weather, the sky cleared this evening to catch a view of Venus during bright evening twilight. Binoculars were needed to initially find it; it then became visible to the unaided eye as the sky darkened.
Venus began its evening appearance at its superior conjunction on January 9. It is slowly climbing back into the sky after passing on the far side of the sun during daylight hours.
Next weekend, Venus and Mercury appear about one degree apart. See the link at in the listing below to get more details of this conjunction. Another conjunction with these two planets occurs on March 18.
The articles that follow provide details about the planets visible without optical assistance (binoculars or telescope):
- Chart and Image Collection
- 2018: The Morning Sky
- 2018: The Evening Sky
- 2018, March 3: Venus-Mercury Conjunction
- 2018, March 18: Venus, Mercury and the Moon
- 2018, April 2: Saturn-Mars Conjunction
- 2018: Mercury in the Morning Sky
- 2018: Mercury in the Evening Sky
- 2018: Five Planets Visible at Once
- 2018: Venus the Evening Star
- 2017-2019: Mars Observing Year with a Perihelic Opposition, July 27, 2018
- 2018: Mars Perihelic Opposition
- 2017-2018: Jupiter’s Year in the Claws of the Scorpion, A Triple Conjunction
- 2018: Three Planets at Opposition in 79 days
- 2018: Saturn with the Teapot