Evening Star - Universe Today Universe Today by Abby Cessna [/caption] Venus is also known as the evening star. It was given that name by ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks and Egyptians, who saw it in the sky. The planet was eventually named after the Roman goddess of love because of its beauty. Many ancient cultures have his planet with love and womanhood. Venus has been an important object in a number of different cultures including to the Babylonians and Mayans. The Mayans even used the movement of the planet to help create their complex calendar. Venus is close to the Earth as well as the Sun. As soon as the Sun sets and it gets dark enough, Venus can often be seen in the sky. Because it seems In addition to being known as the evening star, Venus was also called the morning star because it could be seen for a few hours before the Sun grew too bright. The planet actually becomes brightest before the Sun rises or just after sunset. The ancient civilizations thought that the morning star and the evening star were separate celestial bodies. Pythagoras, the famous Greek mathematician, is believed to be the first person to realize that the morning and evening stars were actually the same object – Venus.

The Egyptians had two names for the planets because they thought it was actually two stars. The morning star was called Tioumoutri, and the evening star was known as Ouaiti. The Greeks called the evenings star Hesperos, the “star of the evening.” The Greeks called the morning star, Phosphoros “the Bringer of Light,” or Eosphoros, “the Bringer of Dawn.” Besides the Sun and Earth’s Moon, Venus is the brightest object in our Solar System. Its brightness is caused in part by the clouds of toxic gases that comprise its atmosphere. The sulfur dioxide and other elements in these clouds reflect light from the Sun causing the planet to shine. Long after astronomers discovered that Venus was no longer the evening or morning star it has captivated the imagination of many. The swirling clouds that hid the surface of this shining planet from view were thought to shield a tropical paradise. Ironically, what many considered to be the most beautiful planet turned out to be a burning wasteland – the hottest planet in our Solar System. Another one of Venus’ many names is Earth’s twin because it is similar in size and mass to our own planet. For more information, you should take a look at Venus and an introduction to Venus .

Astronomy Cast has an episode on Venus . References: The Evening and Morning Star The Evening and Morning Star Astronomy Home Page The text book for our astronomy class gives all kinds of data about the planets Mercury and Venus that was gathered from fly-bys and probes, but it doesn't tell you how to go out and look that the planets in the sky! So let's learn the basics of the Evening and the Morning stars. Both Mercury and Venus are both evening and morning stars. That is because they are nearer to the sun than the earth is, so they can never appear very far from the sun in the sky. In other words, when the sun sets in the evening they might be in the west, near the sun as an evening star. Or they could be in the morning sky before sunrise, again, near the sun. But neither Mercury nor Venus can be opposite the sun in the sky, such as rising at sunset. Hence, they are called the evening and morning stars. Actually, "evening star" or "morning star" nearly always refers to Venus, which is by far the brightest celestial object in the sky after the sun and moon. Mercury is much dimmer and only visible for a few weeks of the year.

Sidereal Period. The sidereal period of a planet is what is normally called simply the "orbital period." It means the period of the planet orbiting the sun as seen relative to the stars, and it is the period listed in most tables of planetary data as orbital period. The sidereal period of Venus is about 225 days, or seven and a half months. The sidereal period of Mercury is about 88 days. Synodic Period. The synodic period of a planet is the period relative to the sun as seen from the moving earth, and is by far more important than the sidereal period for the evening and morning stars because they are always near the sun. That is, the whole idea of evening and morning has to do with the sun, so the length of time of the evening/morning star cycle is the synodic period, or the period between successive crossings between the earth and the sun. In the case of Venus, Venus orbits the sun 13 times in 8 years, that is, during the period in which the earth orbits the sun 8 times. For this reason, Native Americans said the number of Venus was 13, while the number of the earth was 8.

Thus, if Venus orbits the sun 13 times while the earth does 8 times, then Venus must pass us 5 times during those 8 years. Thus, Venus passes between the earth and the sun 5 times in 8 years, meaning that it completes 5 synodic periods in 8 years, or 5 complete evening/morning star cycles. The Mayans had carefully tracked the cycles of Venus, and had noticed that 5 Venus cycles of 584 days just equalled 8 years of 365 days (5 x 584 = 8 x 365). Notice the great difference between the sidereal and synodic periods of Venus: its sidereal period is less than 8 months, but its synodic period is 1 3/5 years. For Mercury the difference is not so great between the sidereal and synodic periods. The sidereal period being 88 days means that while it orbits the sun once, the earth has only gone through about one quarter of a year. Thus, it takes about another month for Mercury to come around and again align with the sun.

It turns out the synodic period is 115.88 days, which means that Mercury goes through 3 entire evening/morning star cycles each year. Remember pi from math (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter?)? Remember that one approximation of pi is 22/7? Well it turns out that there are not just 3 Mercury cycles per year, but about pi per year, and 22/7 is even more exact because in 7 years Mercury goes through 22 cycles. To see how the evening and morning star cycles work, consider the following illustration of the orbit of Venus. Evening and Morning Star. The earth is shown at the bottom of the illustration, and for our purposes, consider it to be at rest. So let's look at Venus at different places in the orbit. It is orbiting around the sun counterclockwise in this illustration, and the earth is rotating on its axis in that same direction, causing night and day. When Venus is on the left side of the illustration between positions 3 and 5, it appears as an evening star, when it is on the right side between positions 6 and 2, it is a morning star.

In the other positions on the near and far side of the orbits, it is too near the sun to be seen. The periods as evening and morning star each average about 263 days, the disappearance on the near side of the sun is about 8 days, and on the far side is about 50 days, for a total of 584 days for the entire cycle. The Feathered Serpent. Native Americans of Central America had a legend about Venus which is still useful to help remember where Venus is in its orbit. The equated Venus, which they called the Dawn Star, with their god Quetzalcoatl, the "Feathered Serpent." They believe he came to earth and lived as a man and that the evening star represented his life. Thus, point 3 in the orbit when Venus first rises in the west as an evening star would represent the "birth" of Venus. It is then on the far side of its orbit, and so it is at about its faintest at birth. It then grows a little brighter every day as an evening star in the west, like a child growing up, until it gets to point 4 in the orbit.

That point is called the greatest eastern elongation because it is as far east of the sun as it can get. By this time, Venus is in its "prime" of life, and is very bright. It then continues to get even brighter for about another month until it is so bright it can cast a shadow on a moonless night and is often the cause of flying saucer reports from someone who looked at the sky for the first time. Because it is at this time so near the earth, it seems to plunge surprisingly quickly into the earth and "die" at point 5 in the illustration. It is about the death of Venus that the Native Americans have best preserved their legends for us. A good reference on this is Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico by Anthony Aveni (Austin, Texas: U. of Texas, 1980). He quotes (p. 187) the legend from the Anales de Quauhtitlán (Seler, 1904, pp. 364-365): "at the time when the planet was visible in the sky (as evening star) Quetzalcoatl died.

And when Quetzalcoatl was dead he was not seen for 4 days; they say that he dwelt in the underworld, and for 4 more days he was bone (that is, he was emaciated, he was weak); not until 8 days had passed did the great star appear; that is, as the morning star. They said that then Quetzalcoatl ascended the throne as god" Notice that the eight days of the disappearance of Venus exactly fits the actual average orbital value. Thus, following their analogy, we can think of Venus as dying at point 5, at which point it really does appear to go into the underworld, and then of Venus resurrecting at point 6, when it rises as a bright morning star. Notice that the orbit features such as brightness as a morning star is the opposite as when an evening star. That is, it rises quickly and very bright, reaches it maximum brightness, then passes western elongation at point 7, and then continually becomes dimmer until it sets at point 2. So what is the symbolism of points 1 and 2? The position of point 1 is the most mysterious because it does not correspond to an obvious orbital point.

It is taken from the Venus Tables of the Dresden Codex, a Mayan document on astronomy, and corresponds to the day 90 days before the birth of Venus. The legends have not filled in those details as far as I know, but it is easy to do from the Sacred Round count symbolism. The Cycle of Life. All of the Central American calendars had a 20-day count of days which symbolized the cycle of life . The first day represented the beginning of man's journey, being either conception or the creation of the spirit before birth. Mayan sources tell us that the second day represents the day when the spirit enters the fetus before birth, and the third day represents birth. That fits the orbit of Venus also, so I propose that is a good way to remember the Venus cycle. Point 1 is the beginning point of the orbit, representing the "creation" of Venus. Point 2, when it enters darkness, corresponds to the spirit entering the darkness of the womb, followed by point 3 which represents birth.

Venus as a Morning Star, 2014 | When the Curves Line Up When the Curves Line Up Venus as a Morning Star, 2014 November 27, 2013 — Jeffrey L. Hunt This appearance of Venus concluded October 15, 2014, when it passed superior conjunction and moved into the evening sky. As in 2012, Venus is a brilliant Morning Star for most of 2014. Venus makes an appearance in the morning sky, displaying its gleaming “Morning Star” brilliancy throughout most of 2014. Venus enters the eastern morning sky in late January 2014 after passing between Earth and Sun (inferior conjunction). (Click all images to see them larger.) At inferior conjunction on January 11, 2014, Venus is a scant 24.8 million miles from our planet; that’s about 100 times the distance to the moon. Even though the three celestial bodies are aligned, the alignment is not perfect, as Venus is about 5 degrees north of the sun, rising 30 minutes before the sun at the conjunction.

(See the chart below showing the difference between sunrise and Venus rise.) Times are on the diagrams to show the times of noon and midnight. Additionally the morning side of the sky is distinguished from the evening planets. These times are referenced from our planet. Notice that we never see Venus in the midnight sky. (The midnight arrow never points at or goes through Venus.) Venus at its greatest brilliancy, February 15, 2014. Within a month as it rapidly moves higher in the eastern morning sky, Venus reaches its greatest brightness outshining all other starlike celestial objects on February 15. Venus at greatest elongation West — March 22, 2014 In late March, Venus reaches its greatest angular separation from the sun, known as greatest elongation west. It is west of the sun, rising about 2 hours before the sun in the eastern sky. When facing the eastern predawn sky, Venus appears to the right of the growing daylight; that’s west of the sun, yet it appears in the eastern sky. Similar seemingly word trickery is used when Venus is an Evening Star. The first image captured during Venus’ 2014 morning appearance as seen from the Chicago area.

Venus continues to shine in the eastern sky. The moon passes it 9 times. Venus passes several brighter stars and Jupiter. Venus rapidly moves from Earth, dimming, yet incredibly brilliant. By early autumn it rises during bright twilight disappearing behind the sun for superior conjunction on October 25. The chart above shows the difference between the rising times of the sun and Venus from data from the U.S. Naval Observatory. As noted above, even at conjunction Venus rises 30 minutes before the sun as it is north of the sun at this time. Notice how rapidly Venus moves into the evening sky as it reaches its greatest brightness. From its first appearance in late January to late April is rises before twilight begins. For the rest of its appearance it rises during twilight. Beginning in August, it rapidly moves toward the sun as it nears its superior conjunction. This chart shows the rising point of Venus compared to the sunrise direction. Notice that Venus rises north of the sunrise point from its inferior conjunction until February 9. Until July 14, Venus rises south (to the right along the eastern horizon) from where the sun rises. After mid-July Venus again rises north (left along the eastern horizon) from where the sun rises until superior conjunction.

(Data on the chart from the U.S. Naval Observatory.) During the 2014 morning apparition, Venus appears in a part of the sky that has mainly faint stars. Below are some notable events of Venus as a Morning Star in 2014. Appearances With Crescent Moon January 28, 29 Venus and the moon as seen on January 28, 2014 at 6:45 a.m. EST from Fairfield County, Ohio. Venus appears in the southeast at 6:30 a.m. CST with the waning crescent moon nearby. February 26 Venus shines during late twilight on February 25, 2014. Venus and the Moon, February 26, 2014, separated by 4.3 degrees. March 27 Venus and the Moon on the morning of July 24, 2014.

August 23 September 23 (in bright twilight) Appearances with Stars and Planets Mercury (19 degrees to lower left of Venus), March 14 Aldebaran, July 1 Mercury (7 degrees to the lower left of Venus), July 12 Zeta Tauri, July 14 Lined with Castor and Pollux, August 11 Jupiter and Beehive star cluster, August 18 Regulus, September 5 Please bookmark this page and return to it throughout the apparition as we chronicle Venus as a Morning Star with photos of the events. Share this: Bright Planet Venus Has Phases Like the Moon Bright Planet Venus Has Phases Like the Moon By Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist | November 6, 2013 05:49pm ET MORE Venus is now a bright “evening star” setting just after the Sunday It is at greatest eastern elongation on Nov. 1, looking like a miniature first quarter moon. Credit: Starry Night Software The brilliant planet Venus is now a beautiful evening "star" in the late-fall twilight, shining brightly in the southwest through the purple dusk.

But did you know Venus has phases like the moon that are visible in telescopes? Weather permitting, Venus is the first planet night sky observers can spot, and it is even visible before sunset if you know just where to look in the southwest sky. The planet is gaining altitude in the twilight, boldly showing itself off after six months of hiding behind any inconvenient obstructions near the southwestern horizon. Venus is brightening too, since it is speeding toward Earth as it catches up to us in its faster, inner orbit around the sun. [ Weirdest Facts About Venus ] Phases of Venus revealed As Venus travels around the sun inside the Earth's orbit, it alternates regularly from evening to morning sky and back. It typically spends about 9 1/2 months as an "evening star" and about the same length of time as a "morning star." Some ancient astronomers actually thought they were seeing two different celestial bodies. They named the morning star after Phosphorus, the harbinger of light, and the evening star for Hesperus, the son of Atlas. It was the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras who first realized that Phosphorus and Hesperus was one and the same object.

To the ancients, such behavior was puzzling and was not really understood until the time of the famed 17th century astronomy Galileo Galilee . After moving to Pisa in the autumn of 1610, Galileo started observing Venus through his crude telescope. One evening he noticed that a small slice seemed to be missing from Venus' disk. After several more months, Venus appeared in the shape of a crescent — in other words, it seemed to display the same behavior as the phases of the moon . This was a major discovery, which ultimately helped to deliver a deathblow to the long-held concept of an Earth-centered universe. Skywatcher Victor Rogus snapped this view of the moon near Venus on Sept. 8, 2013 from Jadwin, Missouri. Credit: Victor Rogus Venus' path around the sun Venus wanders only a limited distance east or west of the sun, since, like Mercury, it is an "inferior" planet (orbiting the sun more closely than Earth does). Watching its movement is akin to watching an auto race from the grandstand: All the action takes place in front of you and it’s necessary to turn only a limited amount either way to see it at all.

In contrast, for "superior" planets (those located in orbits beyond the Earth from the sun), viewers on Earth are like the pit crews inside the racetrack who must turn in all directions to follow the cars. When Venus is on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth, it appears full (or nearly so) and rather small because it is far away. But because Venus moves with a greater velocity around the sun than the Earth, it gradually gets closer and looms progressively larger in apparent size. The angle of sunlight striking it as seen from our Earthly vantage point also appears to change as well. Planet Venus is often likened to Earth but with a runaway greenhouse problem. The 2nd planet from the sun is hot shrouded with deadly clouds. Those are hints. Now test your knowledge of Venus facts. Start Over | More Quizzes Ultimately, as Venus prepares to pass between the Earth and the sun it appears as a thinning crescent. And since at this point in its orbit it is nearly six times closer to us compared to when it was on the opposite side of the Sun, it appears much larger to us as well.

Here then, is a schedule of how Venus’ appearance has — and will — change during the coming weeks and months: 2013 Nov. 1, Greatest Eastern Elongation: Venus passed that point in the sky where it attained its greatest angular distance (47º) from the Sun last Friday and now sets about 2 1/2 hours after sundown. In our solar system geometry, Venus made a right angle with both the sun and Earth. In terms of apparent size, Venus now appears more than twice as large as it was at the end of July. In a small telescope , Venus now closely resembles a dazzling silvery-white "half-moon." In the nights that follow it gradually becomes a fat crescent while growing ever larger as it swings around in its orbit closer to Earth. 2013 Nov. 6: Venus and the crescent Moon will make for an eye-catching sight in the west-southwest sky right after sunset. Venus will shine well below and to the left of the slender sunlit sliver (13-percent illuminated) of the moon.

Observers should also be able to see the full globe of the moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called "the old moon in the young moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as earthshine. That dim bluish-gray light is light from the Earth reflected back to the moon. The Earth's light of course is reflected sunlight, so earthshine is really sunlight which is reflected off Earth to the moon and reflected back to Earth. Another, similar pairing-off between the Moon and Venus will take place on the evening of Dec. 5. 2013 Dec. 6, Greatest Illuminated Extent/Greatest Brilliancy: This is the "compromise phase" between the time that Venus appears full, but tiny and when it appears almost six times larger but is just a hairline crescent. The greatest amount of illuminated surface area combined with a moderately large angular size makes Venus now appear truly dazzling, shining 25 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star and setting nearly three hours after the sun.

Venus appears so bright now that it can be seen easily with the naked eye in a deep blue, haze-free afternoon sky. It continues to approach the Earth while appearing to curve back in toward the Sun in our sky. In a telescope it is now a big, beautiful crescent that grows larger and thinner with each passing night. The crescent can now be glimpsed even in steadily held binoculars. Venus now stands 37 million miles from the Earth. Its disk appears 25-percent illuminated and about 35 percent larger in size than it did just one month ago. Wednesday November 6, the Moon passes just north of the planet Venus, making a pretty pair in the southwestern sky. Credit: Starry Night Software 2013 Dec. 21, Disk 12-percent illuminated: The crescent of Venus continues to narrow, but because it also continues to approach our Earth, it appears to greatly lengthen as well. It's now 29 million miles away, but is also now in a rapid plunge down the sky toward the sun. It's now setting just over two hours after sunset. This is a good time to compare the appearance of Venus' two cusps.

Can you make out the crescent's "cusp extensions" — the thread-like wisps of light extending beyond the crescent's points? 2013 Dec. 28, Disk only 6-percent illuminated: It is now critical to try and locate Venus as early as possible when it is still high in the sky in a steady atmosphere. Observing well before sunset is best. At sunset as seen from mid-northern latitudes, Venus stands about 15 degrees above the southwest horizon and sets about 100 minutes later. Note: Your fist at arm's length covers 10 degrees of sky. By this time, Venus is less than 27 million miles from the Earth and is becoming more and more aligned between our planet and the sun. As such, Venus is turning more and more of its dark side toward us. A week from now, it will be all but gone from the evening sky. 2014 Jan. 11, Inferior Conjunction: Venus will finally transition from an evening to morning star and will appear to pass between the Earth and the sun on this day. By the morning of Jan.

17 Venus is emerging as a new morning “star” rising in the east-southeast at mid-dawn. By this time, Venus can be found about 3 degrees above the horizon a half-hour before sunrise. A line from the star Deneb, in Cygnus through the star Altair, in Aquila points right at it. After another week you should see it easily from anywhere with an open east-southeastern view 45 minutes to an hour before sunrise. Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo of Venus that you would like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com . Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us @SPACEdotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on SPACE.com . Venus – Evening Star or Morning Star? | Astro Navigation Demystified Venus – Evening Star or Morning Star? Make A Clinometer Venus – Evening Star or Morning Star?

Venus sometimes appears as an evening star above the western horizon shortly after sunset and sometimes appears as a morning star above the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise. In primitive times, people regarded the evening and morning stars as two different heavenly bodies but in the sixth century BC, Pythagoras suggested that they might be one and the same body. Ptolemy believed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and that the Sun moved in a circular orbit around the Earth which was stationary. He also believed that Venus orbited the Sun as the Sun itself orbited the Earth and that this explained why Venus appeared from Earth as an evening star during part of its orbit and as a morning star during another part. The Ptolemaic hypothesis can be explained with the aid of diagram 1 below: According to the Ptolemy, if Venus were at a point in its orbit somewhere on the semicircle ABC, say at B, then the line joining the Earth to Venus would be to the left of the line joining the Earth to the Sun.

Therefore, looking from Earth, Venus would appear to be to the left of the Sun so, when the Sun sets in the west, Venus would be seen for some time after sunset above the western horizon as an evening star. In a similar way, if Venus were at a point somewhere on the semicircle ADC, say at D, it would appear from Earth to be to the right of the Sun and it would therefore appear above the eastern horizon just before sunrise as a morning star. We now know, thanks to the work of Copernicus, that both Earth and Venus orbit the Sun, as do all of the planets in our solar system. According to the Copernican hypothesis, the reason that Venus sometimes appears as an evening star and sometimes as a morning star can be explained with the aid of diagram 2 below: The average distance of Venus from the Sun is 108 million Km. while the average distance of Earth from the Sun is 150 million Km. Because the circumference of the orbit of Venus is smaller than that of the Earth, we can safely assume that Venus takes less time to complete its orbit than the Earth does.

Whereas the Earth moves through 360o in 365.25 days, Venus completes its orbit in 225 days. For this reason Venus gains 0.6o per day on the Earth and overtakes it at intervals of approximately 600 days. From the diagram it will be seen that, after Venus has overtaken the Earth (that is after it has passed the point V) it becomes a morning star. It increases its angular distance to the right of the Sun until it reaches 44o at point X. After passing X, the angular distance to the right of the Sun decreases until it reaches point Z, which is behind the Sun. After passing Z, it makes its appearance to the left of the Sun and is now an evening star. As it approaches Y, its angular distance left of the Sun increases until it reaches 44 o at point Y. After passing Y on its way to V, its angular distance left of the Sun decreases until, at V, it is zero when it will pass either slightly above or below the Sun. On extremely rare occasions, it crosses in front of the Sun and this is known as a ‘transit of the planet’.

To sum up, Venus overtakes the Earth at intervals of approximately 600 days. During approximately 300 of these days, it is a morning star and for the other 300 days, it is an evening star. The maximum angular distance right or left of the Sun, is roughly 44o. What about Mercury? In a similar way, Mercury is also an evening and a morning star. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and because it has the most elliptical orbit, its distance from the Sun ranges from 29 million Km. to 47 million Km. Because the circumference of its orbit is comparatively small, it gains 3o on the Earth per day and overtakes it on average every 120 days. For 60 of these days it will be a morning star and for the other 60 it will be an evening star. Its maximum angular distance left or right of the Sun is roughly 24o.

So Venus and Mercury are both morning stars and evening stars but it is quite easy to tell them apart for the following reasons: Venus usually appears much higher in the sky than Mercury and is far brighter; in fact, Venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. In-depth coverage of this and similar topics can be found in the book Astro Navigation Demystified. Venus (Planet) | Article about Venus (Planet) by The Free Dictionary Venus (Planet) | Article about Venus (Planet) by The Free Dictionary in astronomy, 2d planet from the sun; it is often called the evening star evening star or morning star, planet that becomes visible in the western sky shortly after sunset or in the eastern sky shortly before sunrise. It can usually be seen in twilight, when it is too light for the true stars to be seen. ..... Click the link for more information. or morning star and is brighter than any object in the sky except the sun and the moon. Because its orbit lies between the sun and the orbit of the earth, Venus passes through phases like those of the moon, varying from a large bright crescent when the planet is near inferior conjunction conjunction, in astronomy, alignment of two celestial bodies as seen from the earth.

Conjunction of the moon and the planets is often determined by reference to the sun. ..... Click the link for more information. (nearest the earth) to a smaller silvery disk when it is at superior conjunction (farthest from the earth). Since its greatest elongation elongation, in astronomy, the angular distance between two points in the sky as measured from a third point. The elongation of a planet is usually measured as the angular distance from the sun to the planet as measured from the earth. ..... Click the link for more information. (the angle made between the sun, the earth, and Venus) is 47°, it can never be seen much longer than 3 hr after sunset or 3 hr before sunrise. Venus revolves around the sun at a mean distance of c.67 million mi (107 million km) in a nearly circular orbit, and its period of revolution is about 225 days. It comes closer to the earth than any other planet, being c.26 million mi (42 million km) away at inferior conjunction. Venus is often referred to as the sister planet of the earth, because it is only slightly smaller in both size and mass.

Several important differences, however, exist between the two planets. Although Venus is covered with a thick blanket of clouds that hides its surface from view, much has been learned of the conditions on Venus from U.S. and Soviet space probes. These probes indicate a surface temperature of about 890&degF; (475&degC;) and an atmospheric pressure as great as 100 times that at the earth's surface. The thick atmosphere is composed mainly of carbon dioxide, with a slight amount of water vapor and a trace of nitrogen and other elements. The high surface temperature is assumed to result partly from the greenhouse effect; radiation passing through the atmosphere heats the surface, but the heat is blocked by the enveloping carbon dioxide from escaping back out through the atmosphere. The European Space Agency's Venus Express space probe began orbiting the planet in 2006; its instruments are designed primarily to study the Venusian atmosphere. Studies also indicate that Venus rotates on its axis in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction of revolution about the sun) with a period of about 243 days. Despite this slow rotation there is little observed temperature difference between the lighted and unlighted sides of the planet.

The surface of Venus is thought to be stormy. From 1990 to 1992 NASA's Magellan spacecraft mapped the Venusian surface using radar, revealing details of a continentlike feature, called Aphrodite Terra, that crosses the planet's equator and is marked by geologic faults. A second such feature, Ishtar Terra, straddles the north polar region. Magellan also observed many volcanic features, including immense lava plains and large shield volcanoes, and relatively few impact craters resulting from asteroids and comets. Compared to the number of craters on other bodies of the inner solar system, this suggests that the surface of Venus is only about 800 million years old. No strong magnetic field comparable to that of the earth has been detected. Venus, in Roman religion and mythology, goddess of vegetation. Later, she became identified (3d cent. B.C.) with the Greek Aphrodite Aphrodite , in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of fertility, love, and beauty. Homer designated her the child of Zeus and Dione.

Hesiod's account of her birth is more popular: she supposedly rose from the foam of the sea where Uranus' genitals had fallen after he had been ..... Click the link for more information. . In imperial times she was worshiped as Venus Genetrix, mother of Aeneas; Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; Venus Victrix, bringer of victory; and Venus Verticordia, protector of feminine chastity. The most famous representations of Aphrodite or Venus in sculpture are the Venus of Milo or Melos (Louvre); the Venus of Medici or Medicean Aphrodite (Uffizi); the Venus of Capua (national museum, Naples); and the Capitoline Venus (Capitoline Mus., Rome). The Venus of Milo is a Greek statue in marble, generally dated to the 2d or 1st cent. B.C. Found (1820) on the island of Melos, it was taken by the French ambassador to Turkey and was eventually presented by Louis XVIII to the Louvre. The Venus of Medici belongs to the 3d cent. B.C.

It is probably derived from Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Cnidus, which was destroyed. Venus (vee -nŭs) The second planet of the Solar System in outward succession from the Sun and the one that comes closest to the Earth. It orbits the Sun every 224.7 days at a distance varying between 0.72 and 0.73 AU. It has a size (12 104 km equatorial diameter), density, and, probably, internal constitution comparable with those of the Earth, but measurements by Mariner , Pioneer Venus , Venera , Vega , Magellan , and Galileo spaceprobes have revealed extremely hostile surface and atmospheric conditions. Orbital and physical characteristics are given in Table 1, backmatter. Venus is never far from the Sun in the sky, reaching its greatest elongation of 45° to 47° about 72 days before and after inferior conjunctions, which recur at intervals of about 584 days.

At greatest brilliancy the planet is near magnitude –4.4 and brighter than every other celestial object except the Sun and the Moon; this occurs at an elongation of 39° about 36 days before and after inferior conjunction, while Venus is an evening star or a morning star . Telescopically the planet shows a brilliant yellowish-white cloud-covered disk. Because of its orbital position between Sun and Earth, Venus exhibits phases : gibbous and crescent phases occur between full at superior conjunction, when the planet's apparent diameter is 10 arc seconds, and new at inferior conjunction, when it has a diameter of about 61 arc seconds. Transits of Venus across the Sun's disk at inferior conjunction are rare and currently come in pairs: the next will occur in 2012 – this will be the second of a pair, the first having taken place in 2004. After 2012, there will not be another until 2117.

The clouds never permit views of the surface of Venus; it was not until 1961 that radar established that Venus rotated in a retrograde direction 243.01 days relative to the stars, or 116.8 days in relation to the Sun (the Venusian day). Features in the clouds, seen indistinctly from the Earth but observed in detail by ultraviolet photography from Pioneer Venus and Mariner 10 , indicate a four-day east to west rotation period for the upper atmosphere, corresponding to 350 km/hour winds. The atmosphere thus rotates in the same direction but about 60 times faster than the solid planet. The cloud patterns swirl from the equator toward the poles and appear to be driven by solar heating and convection near the subsolar point in the middle of the sunlit hemisphere. Possibly because of the slow rotation of its nickel-iron core, Venus has little or no intrinsic magnetic field. A magnetic field is however induced in the planet's ionosphere by the solar wind . The resulting bow shock wave was found by one of the Pioneer Venus probes to be very strong and can therefore buffer the outer atmosphere of Venus from the solar wind.

The atmosphere extends to about 250 km above the surface. Pioneer Venus measurements showed there to be a layered structure to the Venusian clouds, which lie between altitudes of roughly 45–60 km within the troposphere of Venus (i.e. the region in which the atmospheric temperature decreases with altitude). There is haze above and below the clouds. Three cloud layers have been distinguished, having different concentrations and sizes of suspended particles; the particles are identified as liquid droplets of sulfuric acid with an admixture of water and solid and liquid particles of sulfur. The temperature increases from about 300 K at the cloud tops to about 730 K at Venus' surface, which experiences a crushing atmospheric pressure 90 times that of the Earth. The surface temperature, higher than that of any other planet, is the result of a greenhouse effect involving the clouds and the large proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Pioneer Venus showed that the atmosphere as a whole consists of about 98% carbon dioxide, 1–3% nitrogen, with a few parts per million (ppm) of helium, neon, krypton, and argon.

Although the amounts of neon, krypton, and argon are small, they indicate very much greater amounts of primordial neon, krypton, and argon than those found in the Earth's atmosphere. This is currently raising problems concerning the established view of the origin of the Solar System. In the lower atmosphere, below the clouds, trace amounts of water vapor (0.1–0.4%) and free oxygen (60 ppm) were detected. The high surface temperature may have prevented any atmospheric water vapor from condensing into oceans, as occurred on Earth; it may also have prevented carbon dioxide from combining with the crustal material to form carbonaceous rocks. The upper atmospheric winds moderate to only 10 km/hour or so at the surface. Photographs of the surface returned by the Venera 9 and 10 landers in 1975 showed a stony desert landscape, while tests for radioactive elements in the crust implied a composition similar to that of basalt or granite. Radar mapping of the surface of Venus was done by the Pioneer Venus, Venera 15 and 16, and Magellan spacecraft.

Magellan mapped 98% of the surface, obtaining a resolution of 100 meters in places. Huge rolling plains cover 65% of the surface, depressions cover 27%, and highland areas cover the remaining 8%, concentrated in two main areas – Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite Terra . Ishtar Terra, the more northerly, is a flattish plateau bounded on three sides by mountains. Maxwell Montes , one of these mountainous regions, is the highest range on Venus, rising to more than 11 km above the mean elevation of the surface. Almost everywhere, the surface of Venus displays evidence of volcanism. The larger shield volcanoes are generally located on top of the broad highland areas, while small volcanoes of only a few km across appear to exist over all the surface. Scores of small volcanic domes, all less than 15 km across, pepper the southern flank of the highland area Tethus Regio. The Eistla region has circular volcanic domes (‘pancake’ domes), some up to 65 km in diameter, with broad flat tops less than 1 km in height. These are formed from viscous lava.

Magellan observed more than 900 craters on Venus. The planet does not have impact craters less than a few km across because its thick atmosphere causes smaller objects to disintegrate totally before they reach the surface. Many craters are surrounded by huge radar-dark halos, the result of a shock wave that built up ahead of the object in Venus' atmosphere and pulverized the uppermost few meters of rock to produce a smooth blanket of material. The distribution of craters on Venus is statistically uniform and very few are altered by later volcanic activity. Other features include wind streaks, tesserae , coronae , and deep chasms. Complex lava flows exist; the area of Mylitta Fluctus in Lavinia Planitia covers roughly 800 km by 400 km. Long narrow channels meander for great distances; for example Hildr Fossa extends for 6800 km but is only 1–2 km wide over its entire length with no lakes or tributaries. It may have been formed by extremely fluid lava flowing across a vast flat plain. It is clear that Venus has had an active geological history; no evidence has been found, however, for plate tectonics.

A seventeenth-century illustration of the birth of Venus entitled “Imagini Dei Dei.” Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library. Venus (religion, spiritualism, and occult) Venus is the second planet from the Sun, located between Mercury and Earth. It is the most notable light in the sky, after the Sun and Moon, and has been referred to as Earth’s sister planet. Nearly the same size as Earth, Venus orbits around the Sun in a nearly circular path of 225 days. Venus also rotates on its axis in the opposite direction of the Earth and most other planets, turning from east to west, and so slowly that one Venus day is the equivalent of 243 Earth days, longer than its year. In so doing Venus only shows one side of itself to the Earth at its closest orbital proximity. As a planet nearer to the Sun than Earth, Venus is considered an inferior planet and is never seen to be more than 48° of longitude away from the Sun. As Venus moves along its orbit, it appears from Earth’s perspective to periodically slow, stop, and then move backwards.

This so-called retrograde motion lasts approximately six weeks, which ends when Venus seems to stop briefly and move forward again. The retrograde motions of Venus happen at regular intervals, taking place five times within the greater eight-year Venus cycle. It is this eight-year cycle that is recorded on the Venus tablet of Amisaduaq, the tablet of Mesopotamian omens based on the movements of Venus. It dates from approximately 1750 to 1650 b.c.e. and is the earliest known astrological document. In addition, the tablet emphasizes the first and last visibilities of Venus, those times Venus is seen rising just prior to the Sun or setting after it. In the first instance Venus has not been visible for a time, as it has been too close to the sun. Its first visibility is the first morning it can be spotted rising before the Sun, heralding the coming dawn. Similarly, the last visibility is the last time Venus was seen setting on the tail of the Sun. It then disappears for a time behind the Sun’s light. These two distinctly different sightings were important as they recognized the dual nature of Venus. The Sumerian Inanna was the goddess of love, fertility, desire, and attraction.

She presided over the passions, some of which were destructive ones such as jealousy and anger. Inanna also claimed possession of the Tablets of Destiny, giving her control of the universe. She was the most powerful of deities. Sumerian poetry describes her as Queen of Heaven, Lady of the Evening, as well as Lady of Light, associating Inanna with the planet Venus as both the rising and setting star. Her dual nature ruled over both love and hate, light and dark as seen in her mythology, which includes stories of her descent into the underworld as well as her return to the land of living. The ancients equated the disappearance of Venus with her descent into the underworld. There she had to face herself at her most vulnerable, die, and then rise again as Queen of Heaven and Earth. When the Akkadians settled in Sumerian territory Inanna’s name changed to Ishtar. Babylonian poetic descriptions of the descent of Ishtar are nearly identical to the myths of Inanna with the exception of a more forceful warrior like temperament in Ishtar. Thus Ishtar also had the dual characteristics of love and attraction as the evening star as opposed to lust and hostility as the morning star.

This was reflected in Babylonian astrological omens where good or evil outcomes were indicated by Ishtar’s placements. While the Mesopotamian lands repeatedly changed hands to be led by the Assyrians and then the conquering Persians, the goddess associated with Venus changed names to the Syrian Astarte followed by the Persian Anahita. The goddess continued to be seen as the source of all waters and fertility on the earth, the holder of wisdom and benefactress of the human race. Beautiful, bright and adorned with gold, she was the seductive goddess, symbolizing the tradition of temple prostitution. Astrology centered on the reading of omens also continued in Babylon, however by the sixth century b.c.e. the planets began to be seen as either malefic or benefic, rather than dependent on season or rising time, and Venus became overwhelmingly benefic. The Greeks received knowledge of astrology and the five wandering stars from the Babylonians. In equating the planets to their own pantheon of gods they equated Ishtar with Aphrodite, their goddess of love and beauty. The fertility aspects of Ishtar were seen in Demeter and her mythological descents into the underworld equated with Demeter’s daughter Persephone.

In addition, Athena was the Greek holder of wisdom as well as the patron goddess of righteous warriors, associations formerly held by Inanna/Ishtar. However, the volatile temperament of Ishtar was fully present in the Greek Aphrodite as indicated by myths displaying her jealousy, anger, and possessiveness. The planet Venus was called the star of Aphrodite in fourth century b.c.e. Greece, recognizing it as the home of the goddess. Sometime during the Hellenic period of Alexandria, the flourishing Greek astrology began referring to the planet as simply Aphrodite. Vettius Valens, who recorded an Anthology of Hellenistic astrology in the second century c.e., wrote that the nature of Aphrodite was desire and erotic love, and that it signified the mother and nurse. The star represented priestly rites, parties, weddings, friendships, jewels and ornaments, music, beauty, the arts, as well as a variety of colors. It gave gifts of businesses, involved markets and weights and measures, bestowed favors from female royals or relatives and assured an excellent reputation. It was lord of the neck, face, and lungs, and ruled sexual intercourse. It also indicated the giving of nurturing or pleasure to another.

It was the lord of precious stones and the oil of fruits, its color was white, and it belonged to the nocturnal (lunar) sect, along with Ares (Mars) and Hermes (Mercury, as evening star). Hellenistic astrology included basic functions of the planets, and if one is to assume that Ptolemy’s record is representative of astrologers for that period, then a relationship was present between the basic qualities of matter and each of the planets. Aphrodite is listed as temperate (slightly warm) and moist, meaning that it has an active power that attracts as well as a passivity that can include others within its boundaries. Its basic nature was unification and reconciliation. In a solar (daytime) chart Aphrodite is out of, or contrary to, sect so the unions it represents do not come together naturally, but through thought and choice. Whereas in a lunar (night) chart Aphrodite is in sect and relational things come together more easily. Just as in modern day, Aphrodite ruled the zodiac signs of the Bull (Taurus) and the Balance (Libra), and was exalted in the Fishes (Pisces).

It had additional rulerships of Trigons, Bounds, and Faces—divisions that for the most part do not exist in astrology today. Aphrodite as a nocturnal planet was a trigon lord only in a night chart where it ruled all of the feminine signs: the Bull, the Crab (Cancer), the Virgin (Virgo), the Scorpion (Scorpio), the Goat-Horned One (Capricorn), and the Fishes. As for rulerships of bounds and faces (or decans), tables can be consulted to determine these, as they require exact degrees of signs to determine. Astrology was introduced to the Romans by way of imported slaves. They embraced the Hellenistic practice without alteration, except that they renamed Aphrodite for their goddess of fertility, joy, and beauty—Venus. Through their association with the Alexandrian Greeks, the Romans came to view Venus primarily as the goddess of love and the planet Venus as her abode. Eventually the planet would be thought of as Venus herself, a substitution for the goddess, and the name for the second planet remained Venus on into modern day.

Classical astrology of the Middle Ages had some similarities to the Hellenistic, however the associations for Venus show quite a few variations between them, particularly as to the rulership of body parts, but also in a propensity to expand on the negative, underworld significations of Venus. It represented the force of attraction as well as love and beauty and ruled physical beauty, parts of the face, the throat, the female sex organs, and sense of taste. Like Hellenistic Aphrodite, Venus symbolized women, art, music, and relationships, and was fertile and creative. However, it also signified adulterers, flirts, incest, infertility, kidney and venereal disease, prostitutes, and scandal. The system of essential dignities had Venus ruling Taurus and Libra and exalted in Pisces, a practice that has not changed throughout history. The classic dignities also included tables of Triplicities, Terms, and Faces that varied according to the practice of the astrologer.

William Lilly gave the diurnal, or daytime, triplicities of Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn to Venus; while the Dorothean, or Ptolemaic, tables added the water signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces to that list. Venus had no nocturnal triplicity rulerships. The terms were signs divided into five parts by degree. The terms of Venus are best consulted in those tables. The faces were essentially decans, or 10° increments of signs. Venus was in her own face in the first 10° of Cancer and Aquarius, the second 10° of Virgo, and the third 10° of Aries and Scorpio. Vedic astrology, or Jyotish, has some similarities to the Hellenistic methods of astrology. Venus rules Taurus and Libra, and is connected to the wife, marriage, women, beauty, art, and music. Venus is called Sukra (Shukra), but is seen as a male god. The deities associated with Venus are Lakshmi, the goddess of love and pleasure, as well as Indra, the thunderbolt warrior god who also represents desires and yearnings.

Sukra rules the face, kidneys, and reproductive system and is associated with harmony, flowers, happiness, and pleasure as well as laziness, vanity, and addictions. He represents love and the ability to relate to another. Sukra’s colors are multicolored, his gemstones are diamond and white sapphire, and his day is Friday. As a benefic, Venus enhances the house in which it is placed as well as providing a good influence on planets associated with it by house or aspect. Sukra (Venus) is a friend to Mercury and Saturn, is an enemy to the Sun and Moon, and neutral with Mars and Jupiter. In the zodiac sign of a friend it is joyful, contented, glad, and rejoicing. In the sign of an enemy it is sleepy, drowsy, and numb. Sukra (Venus), as in western astrology, is exalted in Pisces. Jyotish defines the exact degree of exaltation as 27° of Pisces (sidereal) and similarly the exact degree of debilitation of Venus is 27° of Virgo (sidereal).

As it moves toward the exact degree the intensity of its benefic or debilitated state is increased. Venus also rules three of the 27 Nakshatras (lunar mansions): Bharani (0 to 13°20’ Aries, sidereal), Purva Phalaguni (13°20’ to 26°40’ Leo, sidereal), and Purva Ashadha (13°20’ to 26°40’ Sagittarius, sidereal). All three of these Nakshatras share a sense of passion that requires one to learn restraint. Today’s western astrology combines many of the historical attributes of Venus. The planet is associated with the Greco/Roman goddess Venus and rules love and marriage as well as harmony and the ability to attract. The modern Venus is quite feminine in nature, represents grace, elegance, and beauty as well as money and material goods. She is the patron of the arts and music, and reflects one’s ability to navigate social situations. Relationships, the capacity for affection, friendships, sensuality, and sexuality all belong under her domain.

The sign that Venus is posited in at birth indicates how one relates to others, what one finds attractive and one’s capacity for love and harmony. The house in which Venus resides, as well as the houses the planet rules, describe the areas of life that are most profoundly impacted. For instance, harmony or money issues may be more important in those areas. In addition, the attractive nature of Venus usually brings a love of, or interest in, those things represented by those houses. The shadow side of Venus recognizes that overindulgence brings out some negative traits, which can be indicated by retrograde motion, or aspects with another planet, as well as placement in a difficult house, such as the twelfth. For example, Jupiter aligned with Venus may seem to be a lucky placement. However, the expansive nature of Jupiter may influence Venus to overspend and to be vain or lazy. As in the Hellenistic and Jyotish traditions, Venus rules the zodiac signs of Taurus and Libra, is exalted in Pisces, in detriment in Aries and Scorpio, and in its fall in Virgo. Physically, modern Venus rules the female sex organs, the glands, blood in the veins, the throat, and the kidneys.

She is associated with the voice, etiquette, sweets, flowers, perfume, copper, Friday, and the number six. —Linda R. Birch Arnett, Bill. The Nine Planets: A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System. Astronomy for Kids. Bloch, Douglas, and Demetra George. Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand and Interpret Your Own Birth Chart. Berkeley, CA: Wingbow Press, 1987. Campion, Nicholas. Mesopotamian Astrology 2,000 B.C.-O.A.D. Campion, Nicholas, and Steve Eddy. The New Astrology: The Art and Science of the Stars. North Pomfret, VT: Trafalgar Square Pub., 1999. DeFouw, Hart, and Robert Svoboda. Light on Life. London: Penguin Group, 1996. Levacy, William R. Beneath a Vedic Sky. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 1999. Lilly, William. Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books. London: T. Brudenell, 1647.

Reprint, Philadelphia: David McKay Co., 1935. Lineman, Rose, and Jan Popelka. Compendium of Astrology. Atglen, PA: Whitford Press, 1984. Powell, Robert. History of the Planets. San Diego: ACS Publications, 1985. Venus the second planet in order from the sun and the nearest one to the earth in the solar system; astronomical symbol, ♀ . Venus has also been known by the names Morning Star, Hesperus, Vesper, Evening Star, Phosphorus, and Lucifer. Its mean distance from the sun is 108 million km (0.723 astronomical unit). The sidereal period measures 224 days, 16 hours, 49 minutes, and 8 seconds. To the observer on the earth, the angular distance from Venus to the sun does not exceed 48°, as a result of which the planet is visible only during a certain period after sunset (evening star) or shortly before sunrise (morning star). Venus is the brightest celestial object (after the sun and moon) in the terrestrial sky.

At maximum brightness it attains a stellar magnitude of -4.4. The phases of Venus (discovered by Galileo in 1610) may be observed with the naked eye by persons with exceptionally good vision. The planet’s angular diameter at inferior conjunction reaches 64″. According to terrestrial radar observations, its average radius is 6,050 ± 0.5 km and its deviation from sphericity, ± 3 km; its mass is 1/408,522 ± 3 that of the sun and 0.9528 that of the earth. Observed from the earth, Venus appears to be covered by a dense cloud cover having high reflectance (spherical albedo, 0.6) and lacking permanent markings. Using a few dark and bright markings noticeable on the cloud cover, principally in the wavelength range of 300-400 nanometers (3,000-4,000 angstroms), a rotation period of approximately four days has been established.

(The direction of rotation is retrograde, that is, contrary to the motion of the planets around the sun.) The rotation period of the solid body of the planet, determined from radar observations, is 243 ± 0.18 days (the direction of rotation is also retrograde), while the axis of rotation is inclined to the plane of the orbit at an angle no greater than 2°. It is possible that the observed four-day rotation period of the cloud layer may be explained by atmospheric currents having an approximate velocity of 100 m/sec, which in the earth’s atmosphere is typical for altitudes of 50-60 km. The existence of the Venusian atmosphere was first established by M. V. Iomonosov from observations of the transit of Venus across the disk of the sun in 1761. The presence of carbon dioxide (C02) in the Venusian atmosphere has been reliably established by spectroscopic means. Carbon monoxide (CO), steam (H20), oxygen (02), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and hydrogen fluoride (HF) possibly exist in the layer above the clouds. It is supposed that the planet’s clouds consist of aqueous ice crystals.

Information on the atmospheric layer below the clouds, obtained from terrestrial optical observations, is practically nonexistent. According to observations in the radio-frequency and infrared regions of the spectrum, Venus’ brightness temperature is strongly dependent on the wavelength in which observations are conducted (see Table 1). Table 1. Approximate course of Venus’ brightness temperature Wavelength(cm) Morning Star - Universe Today Universe Today by Matt Williams [/caption] If you look to the morning sky – to the east that is, as the sun’s rising – you will notice a bright star in the firmament, one that should not be there. Theoretically, stars only come out at night and should be well on their way to bed by the time the sun rises, correct? Well, that’s because the Morning Star, as it’s known, isn’t a star at all, but the planet Venus. It is both the morning and evening star, the former when it appears in the east during sunrise and the latter when it appears in the west during sunset. Because of its unique nature and appearance in the sky, this “star” has figured prominently in the mythologies of many cultures.

In ancient Sumerian mythology, it was named Inanna (Babylonian Ishtar), the name given to the goddess of love and personification of womanhood. The Ancient Egyptians believed Venus to be two separate bodies and knew the morning star as Tioumoutiri and the evening star as Ouaiti. Likewise, believing Venus to be two bodies, the Ancient Greeks called the morning star Phosphoros (or Eosphoros) the “Bringer of Light” (or “Bringer of Dawn”) and the evening star they called Hesperos (“star of the evening”). By Hellenistic times, they had realized the two were the same planet, which they named after their goddess of love, Aphrodite. The Phoenicians, never ones to be left out where astronomy and mythology were concerned, named it Astarte, after their own goddess of fertility. In Iranian mythology, especially in Persian mythology, the planet usually corresponds to the goddess Anahita, and sometimes AredviSura, the goddesses of fertility and rivers respectively. Mirroring the ancient Greeks, they initially believed the planet to be two separate objects, but soon realized they were one.

The Romans, who derived much of their religious pantheon from the Greek tradition and near Eastern tradition, maintained this trend by naming the planet Venus after their goddess of love. Later, the name Lucifer, the “bringer of light”, would emerge as a Latinized form of Phosphoros (from which we also get the words phosphorus and phosphorescence). This would prove influential to Christians during the Middle Ages who used it to identify the devil. Medieval Christians thusly came to identify the Morningstar with evil, being somewhat more concerned with sin and vice than fertility and love! However, the identification of the Morningstar as a symbol of fertility and womanhood remains entrenched, best demonstrated by the fact that the astronomical symbol for Venus happens to be the same as the one used in biology for the female sex: a circle with a small cross beneath. The Morningstar also figures prominently in the mythology of countless other cultures, including the Mayans, Aborigines, and Maasai people of Kenya. To all of these cultures, the Morningstar still serves as an important spiritual, agricultural and astrological role. To the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese, she is known literally as the “metal star”, based on the Five Elements.

We have written many articles about the Morning Star for Universe Today. Here’s an article about how to find Venus in the sky , and here’s an article about the brightest planet . If you’d like more information on the Morning Star, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Venus , and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus . We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here, Episode 50: Venus . Sources: Bright Lights in the Evening Sky: Spot Venus & Jupiter Tonight Bright Lights in the Evening Sky: Spot Venus & Jupiter Tonight By Denise Chow, SPACE.com Staff Writer | March 23, 2012 11:09am ET MORE Skywatcher Shawn Malone captured this view of Venus and Jupiter from near Eagle Harbor, Mich. In the image, the bright planets are setting over Lake Superior. Credit: Shawn Malone This story was updated on March 23 at 11:08 a.m. EDT.

If you happen to see two intensely bright "stars" in the night sky tonight, you are probably looking at a pair of dazzling planets: Venus and Jupiter are unmistakable bright lights that spent the past several weeks cozying up to one another in the evening sky, but are now moving away on their orbital paths. The two planets shone brightly together like beacons on March 13, but the luminous worlds will line up again for another skywatching event that spans across two days: Sunday (March 25) and Monday (March 26). During the so-called conjunction, Venus and Jupiter will line up in the western sky at sunset, performing a heavenly duet. Venus-Jupiter conjunctions occur roughly every 13 months, but this one should be the best conjunction for several years to come for viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, NASA scientists have said. The agency will host a live webchat on Sunday (March 25) from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT (0100 to 0300 GMT March 26), during which NASA expert Melissa McGrath will answer questions about the conjunction.

The webchat will also feature a live-streamed view of the planets as they brighten the night sky. Venus and Jupiter are two of the brightest planets in the night sky , making them relatively easy to find because they should appear much more luminous than any stars. If you have clear skies overhead, you should be able to spot these eye-catching worlds with your naked eyes. Binoculars or a small telescope will reveal Venus to be a round, featureless disk rather than just a point of light. A modest amateur telescope can help you discern the colorful cloud bands of Jupiter. [ Last Dance for Venus, Jupiter and the Moon ] Venus: The brightest "star" On Sunday, the moon will also appear to dance near Venus and Jupiter. A slender crescent moon will hover slightly above Jupiter, at about 3 degrees to the right (holding your clenched fist at arm's length is roughly equal to 10 degrees). In North America, Jupiter and the moon will appear closest together at around 9 p.m. EDT, according to Joe Rao, SPACE.com's skywatching columnist. Venus will appear about 10 degrees above Jupiter and the moon. The three celestial bodies will resemble a long, narrow isoceles triangle.

By Monday evening, the moon will appear closer to Venus. The crescent will be located less than 3 degrees to the left and just slightly above Venus. Venus is the second planet from the sun, and the brightest planet in our night sky, when it's visible. In ancient times, the planet was thought to be two different stars — the evening star and the morning star. This is because as Venus circles the sun inside Earth's orbit, the celestial body is visible for about 9 1/2 months in the evening sky, and then alternates, spending approximately the same amount of time in the morning sky.The rest of the time it’s behind the sun or in front of the sun and hidden by its glare. Venus takes about 225 Earth days to travel around the sun. The planet also rotates the opposite way that Earth does on its axis. So on Earth, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but on Venus the sun would rise in the west and set in the east. Due to the changing geometery of planetary orbits, the bright planets Venus and Jupiter will move closer together over several months.

Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor Jovial Jupiter Currently, the other bright light in the night sky is the planet Jupiter , but over the next several weeks, it will slowly slip out of view. As April comes to a close, Jupiter will become much more difficult to see as it sinks lower into the sunset and is no longer visible. For most people, the last time they will likely be able to pick our Jupiter in the sky is around April 24, Rao said. Through a telescope, Jupiter and Venus will look very different, with Jupiter's atmosphere creating a swirling mix of clouds. The gas giant's famous Great Red Spot, which is actually a massive brewing storm, also sets it apart. Venus will appear relatively bland, with a whitish deck of clouds. If you own a telescope, don't forget to also look out for Jupiter's four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. As the moons dance around Jupiter, their positions every night will differ, but these natural satellites have been known to put on a celestial show for lucky skywatchers.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of Venus and Jupiter, or any other skywatching target, and would like to share it for a possible story or image gallery, please contact Denise Chow at dchow@space.com. You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow . Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook . Editor's Recommendations Planet - definition of planet by The Free Dictionary Planet - definition of planet by The Free Dictionary n. 1. a. In the traditional model of solar systems, a celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the sun, around which it revolves. b. A celestial body that orbits the sun, has sufficient mass to assume nearly a round shape, clears out dust and debris from the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite of another planet. 2. One of the seven celestial bodies, Mercury, Venus, the moon, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, visible to the naked eye and thought by ancient astronomers to revolve in the heavens about a fixed Earth and among fixed stars. 3. a.

The collection of life forms supported on Earth: an asteroid that threatened the whole planet. b. People as a whole; humankind or the general public: The entire planet was affected by the global recession. 4. One of the seven revolving astrological celestial bodies that in conjunction with the stars are believed to influence human affairs and personalities. [Middle English, from Old French planete, from Late Latin planēta, from Greek planētēs, variant of planēs, planēt-, from planāsthai, to wander; see pelə-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto in 1930 added a ninth planet to our solar system, and thereafter students of astronomy were taught the familiar list of nine planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. But in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to change the definition of planet, requiring that a celestial body must have enough mass to assume a round shape and "clear the neighborhood around its orbit" in order to qualify as a planet.

This means that a planet cannot have other objects in or crossing its orbit except smaller objects that have been captured by its gravity, such as those that revolve around it as moons. Because Neptune's large mass has captured Pluto so that the two planets remain in orbits that cross, Pluto has not cleared its own orbit and was therefore demoted from planet status to that of a newly created category, dwarf planet. Like a planet, a dwarf planet orbits the sun, is large enough to assume a nearly round shape, and does not orbit a planet (as our Moon does). But a dwarf planet does not clear the neighborhood around its orbit and may cross the paths of other objects orbiting the sun. Other dwarf planets include Ceres, whose orbit is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and Eris, an object in the Kuiper belt beyond Pluto. At the same meeting, the IAU created a third category of objects known as small solar system bodies, which includes asteroids (sometimes referred to as "minor planets," compounding the difficulty of the term planet), comets, objects beyond Neptune's orbit, and other nonspherical bodies. Although officially approved, this new scheme of the solar system remains controversial among astronomers and may well be revised.

planet planet (ˈplӕnit) noun any of the bodies (eg the Earth) which move round the Sun or round another star. Mars and Jupiter are planets, but the Moon is not.

planeet كوكَب سَيّار планета planeta planeta der Planet planet πλανήτης planeta planeet سیاره planeetta planète כּוֹכָב לֶכֶת ग्रह planet bolygó planet pláneta, reikistjarna pianeta 惑星 행성 planeta planēta planet planeet planet planeta سياره planeta planetă планета planéta planet planeta planet ดาวนพเคราะห์ gezegen 行星 планета سيارہ، جرم فلکي hành tinh 行星 ˈplanetary adjective planetêr كَوْكَبي، سَيّاري планетен planetário planetární planetarisch planetarisk; planet- πλανητικός planetario planetaar- وابسته به سیاره planetaarinen planétaire שֶׁל כּוֹכבי לֶכֶת ग्रहीय planetarni bolygó- planetarium reikistjörnu

- planetario 惑星の 행성의 planetinis, planetų planētas-; planētu- planet planetair planet- , planetarisk planetarny سياره ته مربوط planetário planetar планетный;планетарный planetárny planeten planetarni planetarisk, planet- แห่งดาวนพเคราะห์ gezegenle ilgili 行星的 планетний; планетарний سياروں سے متعلق thuộc về hành tinh 行星的 planet

Question: The planet Venus is known as the Evening Star. Which of the celestial bodies is known as The Morning Star?
Answer: Venus