April 2025: Venus shines brilliantly in the morning sky, rising earlier each day. This month, it reaches greatest brilliancy, passes Saturn with the crescent moon, and displays its largest illuminated extent.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
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Venus Summary Article
VENUS AS A MORNING STAR, 2025
Brilliant Venus shines from low in the eastern sky during morning twilight.
Venus During Morning Twilight
During the month, Venus picks up 35 minutes of rising time compared to sunrise. On April 1st, the Morning Star rises 66 minutes before sunrise. At 30 minutes before daybreak, it is nearly 10° above the east horizon. Even though the sky is brightening, the brilliant planet shines through morning’s light.
When Venus moves from the western evening sky to the eastern morning sky, overtaking and passing Earth, it retrogrades. This ends on the 13th.
Greatest Brilliancy
On the 22nd, the planet is brightest – sometimes known as greatest brilliancy. Under unique circumstances, the planet can cast shadows, though this event for this Venusian cycle occurs when the morning sky is bright. On this morning, the planet is 10° above the horizon at 45 minutes before daybreak.
Venus, Saturn, Moon Gathering
On the 25th, Venus passes Saturn and the planetary pair is joined by the crescent moon, 8% illuminated. The three bodies easily fit into a binocular field of view. Likely a binocular is needed to see Saturn. While the Venus-Saturn conjunction occurs today in ecliptic longitude, their separation closes to 3.8° on the mornings of April 27 and 28th. Venus crosses the ecliptic on May 7th allowing the small separations after the conjunction.
Phases and Greatest Illuminated Extent
On the 27th, Venus is at its greatest illuminated extent, when the crescent, 26% illuminated, covers the largest area of the sky. This is different from the moon when the Full moon covers the largest area of the sky and the lunar crescent covers a small area. The moon’s size does not change, but the Full moon’s illumination covers more of the sky than the crescent’s illumination.
For Venus, the planet is far away at the full phase and nearby when at the crescent phase. The illuminated Venusian crescent covers the largest area of the sky and so the name greatest illuminated extent.
Watch Venus continue to emerge from bright morning twilight, passing its greatest brilliancy, a gathering with Venus and Saturn, and the greatest illuminated extent.
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