Planet Venus, at peak brilliance in its current evening apparition, reached magnitude -4.47 on July 7. (The lower the magnitude number, the brighter the celestial body.) Begin to seek out the singular, radiant light in the west half an hour after sunset. Find a location with as close to a horizon view as you can, where the planet is 15 degrees above the skyline at dusk on July 8.
The figure of Leo the Lion appears above Venus as twilight deepens. The Lion’s brightest star, blue-white Regulus, 1.34 magnitude, can be seen with slightly dimmer, red planet Mars, 1.73 magnitude, to its right. Remember, the larger number signifies a dimmer object.
Note that the “evening star” is about half as high in the sky as during May and early June. I have found that walking a quarter of a mile from my forested homesite to an open landscape gains an hour of viewing. Although the goddess planet continues to appear lower in the sky each night, it beckons the admiring stargazer. Venus sets at 10:25 p.m. on July 8, 10 p.m. on the 14th, and a few minutes earlier every night going forward.
Be enchanted by the fullness of Leo the Lion close above the western horizon at dusk and twilight, as this quintessential spring constellation sets. Augmented, the Lion is joined by a crescent moon and Venus on July 19 and 20. Learn about the astronomy that inspired the October 2020 sky image that leads this article.
On July 8: sunset is at 8:30 p.m., civil twilight 9:03 p.m., nightfall 10:37 p.m., and Venus sets at 10:24 p.m. New moon occurs on July 17. A wisp of a crescent moon is to the right of Venus on July 19, when moonset is 9:58 p.m. The crescent appears above Venus on July 20 when moonset is at 10:21 p.m. On July 22, sundown is at 8:22 p.m.; Venus sets an hour later.
Named the Evening Star by ancient observers before planets were conceived, the planet we know as Venus was also known as the Morning Star: The celestial object was thought to be two distinct bodies appearing at different times of day. Find discussion of Venus as planet, its position in our solar system, its orbit, and more in distinguished astronomy writer Joe Rao’s article, “What is a ‘morning star,’ and what is an ‘evening star’?”
