This is Venus’s moment in the sun. Not since 1988 have celestial circumstances conspired to create such a riveting presentation of the evening star. This is the best and brightest Venus we can possibly see.
What makes this year so special? After all, every 19 months, Venus, Earth, and the sun repeat the same alignment with one another. But the tilt of Earth’s axis introduces a little variety into things and dramatically affects Venus’s visibility. That nearest planet is most easily seen when it appears farthest from the sun in the sky, away from the glow of sunrise or sunset. If its greatest separation from the sun happens to occur in the fall, then Earth’s tilt makes the evening star appear inconspicuously low in the sky. But if the same event happens in the spring, the picture is reversed, and Venus floats high in the twilight sky, almost vertically above ...
