And as we approach the end of September we’re going to get a wonderful chance to see bright Venus against a dark sky.<\/p>
Read Patrick Moore’s archive article on what makes Venus so special<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> At the start of September, Venus was well-placed and couldn’t be seen against a dark sky, as it rose only two hours before the Sun.<\/p> However, that’s changing and by the end of September Venus will rise nearly four hours before sunrise.<\/p> This gives us an amazing chance to see this dazzling jewel of a planet against an astronomically dark sky.<\/p> The light from Venus is intense and effectively a point source.\u00a0<\/p> On 15 September, after rising, Venus remains against astronomically dark skies for around 80 minutes, reaching an altitude of 10\u00b0 as astronomical darkness comes to an end.<\/p> By the end of the month, Venus is visible under astronomical darkness for two hours, reaching an altitude of 18\u00b0 before true darkness ends.<\/p> Catch it from mid-month onwards, before the Moon interferes, and there will be an opportunity to see it casting a shadow.<\/p> The Venusian shadow is quite something, as the point-source nature of the planet creates razor-sharp shadow edges.<\/p> The only problem is that the shadow is very faint and easily lost.<\/p> You may have heard of Venus referred to as a morning or evening star<\/a>.<\/p> So why does Venus sometimes appear as a bright point of light in the morning or evening sky?<\/p> It’s to do with the fact that Venus is an inner planet, lying between Earth and the Sun.<\/p> Venus reached inferior conjunction on 13 August<\/a>, a moment marking when the planet lined up with the Sun, technically moving from the evening to the morning sky.<\/p> As a result, by the end of September, Venus will be a bright morning star and look amazing against the dark morning sky.<\/p> The planet\u2019s re-emergence into the morning sky will be dramatic and as it will be visible against a dark sky there\u2019s an opportunity to photograph the shadow it can cast.<\/p> Being nearer the Sun than Earth and enshrouded by a thick, reflective atmosphere, Venus appears very bright in our sky.<\/p> Around mid-September it reaches magnitude \u20134.5, and under dark skies towards the end of the month the effect will be striking.<\/p> This is the perfect opportunity to photograph the delicate shadow it can cast.<\/p> Don\u2019t expect this to be easy though, as the Venusian shadow is \u2013 like the cloud markings on the planet itself \u2013 very subtle.<\/p> You can find out more about this in our pick of interesting ways to photograph Venus<\/a> or our guide on how to photograph a shadow cast by Venus<\/a>.<\/p> And if you do manage to photograph Venus, don’t forget to send us your images.<\/p> This guide originally appeared in the September 2023 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Darker autumn mornings are set to be a bit brighter, as dazzling Venus emerges. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49657,"template":"","categories":[34],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/09\/catch-venus-as-a-dazzling-morning-star-this-month-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Darker autumn mornings are set to be a bit brighter, as dazzling Venus emerges.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/49656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What will Venus look like?<\/strong><\/h2>
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/Earthshine-Moon-Venus-and-M44-Alignment-Above-Mount-Etna-LD-1024x683.jpg?fit=800,534\")
Why Venus appears in the morning<\/strong><\/h2>
![\"A](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/10\/Venus-elongation-8a5350f-e1635409042920.jpg\")
Photograph a shadow<\/strong> cast by bright Venus<\/h2>
![\"As](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/03\/Screenshot-2020-03-25-at-11.08.30-deee37f-e1679579152906.png\")
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"