Aspects of Venus
Encyclopedia
The table contains special positions of Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 until 2021.
Greatest eastern elongation Greatest brilliancy Stationary, then retrograde Inferior conjunction Stationary, then prograde Greatest brilliancy Greatest western elongation Superior conjunction
March 29, 2004 - 46° May 3, 2004 May 18, 2004 June 8, 2004 June 29, 2004 July 13, 2004 August 17, 2004 - 45.8° March 31, 2005
November 3, 2005 - 47.1° December 12, 2005 December 23, 2005 January 13, 2006 February 3, 2006 February 14, 2006 March 25, 2006 - 46.5° October 27, 2006
June 9, 2007 - 45.4° July 14, 2007 July 25, 2007 August 18, 2007 September 7, 2007 September 23, 2007 October 28, 2007 - 46.5° June 9, 2008
January 14, 2009 - 47.1° February 20, 2009 March 5, 2009 March 27, 2009 April 15, 2009 April 29, 2009 June 5, 2009 - 45.9° January 11, 2010
August 20, 2010 - 46° September 27, 2010 October 7, 2010 October 29, 2010 November 16, 2010 December 2, 2010 January 8, 2011 - 47° August 16, 2011
March 27, 2012 - 46° April 30, 2012 May 15, 2012 June 6, 2012 June 27, 2012 July 10, 2012 August 15, 2012 - 45.8° March 28, 2013
November 1, 2013 - 47.1° December 10, 2013 December 20, 2013 January 11, 2014 January 31, 2014 February 11, 2014 March 22, 2014 - 46.6° October 25, 2014
June 6, 2015 - 45.4° July 12, 2015 July 23, 2015 August 15, 2015 September 5, 2015 September 20, 2015 October 26, 2015 - 46.4° June 6, 2016
January 12, 2017 - 47.1° February 18, 2017 March 2, 2017 March 25, 2017 April 12, 2017 April 26, 2017 June 3, 2017 - 45.9° January 9, 2018
August 17, 2018 - 45.9° September 25, 2018 October 5, 2018 October 26, 2018 November 24, 2018 November 30, 2018 January 6, 2019 - 47° August 14, 2019
March 24, 2020 - 46.1° April 28, 2020 May 13, 2020 June 3, 2020 June 24, 2020 July 8, 2020 August 13, 2020 - 45.8° March 26, 2021


Note: Greatest brilliancy is often confused with "maximum brightness". Although they are related, they are not quite the same thing. The "greatest brilliancy" is really a geometric maximum: it occurs when the apparent area of the sunlit part of Venus is greatest. Only if the luminance
Luminance
Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle. The SI unit for luminance is candela per square...

 of Venus' apparent surface would be constant (i.e. the same at every point and at every phase) would the "greatest brilliancy" of Venus coincide with its maximum brightness. However, the reflection of sunlight on Venus more closely follows Lambert's law, which means that the maximum brightness occurs at a somewhat larger phase
Planetary phase
Planetary phase is the term used to describe the appearance of the illuminated section of a planet. Like lunar phases, the planetary phase depends on the relative position of the sun, the planet and the observer....

 of Venus than its greatest brilliancy.

See also

  • Planetary conjunction
  • Retrograde motion
    Retrograde motion
    Retrograde motion is motion in the direction opposite to the movement of something else, and is the contrary of direct or prograde motion. This motion can be the orbit of one body about another body or about some other point, or the rotation of a single body about its axis, or other phenomena such...

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