In the middle of July, Venus continues to appear quite high in the west-northwestern sky around sunset and stays within view for about one-and-one-half hour. It is clearly outshining the brightest star in the night sky: Sirius.

On Monday, July 16, 2007, skywatchers will see the Moon to the right of Venus. The planet Saturn will also be above and to the right of the Moon.

However, during these nights, Venus will be setting about four-and-one-half minutes earlier. Consequently, it will be a bit lower in the sky each night, and a little bit more difficult to see each subsequent night as the glow of the setting Sun drowns it out more.

By the end of July, Venus will appear in the night sky for only about 45 minutes.

And, by the first week in August, Venus will disappear as the Evening Star.

However, the show isn’t over with yet.

Around the last week of August, Venus will re-appear in the morning sky as the Morning Star. It will begin appearing about 45 minutes before sunrise in the eastern sky around August 25.

And, by the end of August, Venus will become a bright object in the morning sky for most of the remaining year of 2007.

As we all know, Venus is not really a star as its nicknames imply. Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and the sixth largest in the solar system. It is the brightest object in the night sky except for the Moon.

Because Venus is close to the Earth (unlike stars), it does not twinkle like stars. It will shine as a steady white light that will appear much brighter than stars in the sky. Stars will waver and even appear to change color when compared next to the steady shine of Venus.

In addition, Venus reaches its maximum brightness just before sunrise or just after sunset—which is why it is sometimes nicknamed the Morning Star or the Evening Star, respectively.

Actually, Venus is seen as a Morning Star and an Evening Star at least once every year. In fact in ancient times, people thought that the Evening Star and the Morning Star were two different objects.

Venus changes its position from Evening Star to Morning Star because it changes its place in its orbit in respect to the Earth. When we observe Venus from our vantage point on the Earth we see it from different viewpoints during the course of the year.

Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 108 million kilometers (66 million miles). It orbits once around the Sun about every 225 Earth days. Because it takes the Earth, the third planet from the Sun, about 365 days to orbit the Sun (its further away, at 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) from the Sun), Venus overtakes the Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun. As it does so, it goes from being the Evening star to being the Morning star.

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