Venus will reach its greatest separation from the Sun in
its 2023–2024
morning
apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag -4.4.
From Orlando
, this apparition will be well placed and prominent, reaching a peak altitude of
45° above the horizon at
sunrise on
22 Oct 2023.
2023–2024 morning apparition of Venus
The table below lists the altitude of Venus at
sunrise
over the course of the apparition. All times are given in Orlando local time.
Date | Sun rises at |
Venus rises at |
Altitude at sunrise |
Direction at sunrise |
Mag | Phase |
22 Aug 2023 | 06:55 | 06:02 | 11° | east | -4.2 | 4% |
01 Sep 2023 | 07:01 | 05:08 | 24° | east | -4.4 | 11% |
11 Sep 2023 | 07:05 | 04:30 | 33° | east | -4.5 | 20% |
21 Sep 2023 | 07:10 | 04:08 | 39° | east | -4.5 | 29% |
01 Oct 2023 | 07:15 | 03:57 | 43° | east | -4.5 | 37% |
11 Oct 2023 | 07:21 | 03:54 | 44° | east | -4.5 | 43% |
21 Oct 2023 | 07:27 | 03:56 | 45° | east | -4.4 | 49% |
31 Oct 2023 | 07:34 | 04:02 | 45° | south-east | -4.3 | 54% |
10 Nov 2023 | 06:41 | 03:11 | 44° | south-east | -4.3 | 59% |
20 Nov 2023 | 06:49 | 03:22 | 42° | south-east | -4.2 | 63% |
30 Nov 2023 | 06:57 | 03:35 | 40° | south-east | -4.2 | 67% |
10 Dec 2023 | 07:04 | 03:49 | 37° | south-east | -4.1 | 71% |
20 Dec 2023 | 07:10 | 04:05 | 34° | south-east | -4.1 | 74% |
30 Dec 2023 | 07:15 | 04:22 | 31° | south-east | -4.1 | 77% |
09 Jan 2024 | 07:17 | 04:39 | 28° | south-east | -4.0 | 80% |
Altitude of Venus at sunrise
A graph of the angular separation of Venus from the Sun
around the time of greatest elongation is
available here.
Apparitions of Venus
Observing Venus
Venus’s orbit lies closer to the Sun than the Earth’s,
meaning it always appears close to the Sun and is lost in the Sun’s
glare much of the time.
It is observable for
a few months
each time it reaches greatest separation from the Sun – moments referred
to as greatest elongation.
On these occasions, Venus is so bright and conspicuous that it becomes the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. It is often called the morning star or the evening star.
These apparitions repeat roughly once every
1.6 years,
taking place alternately in the morning and evening skies, depending whether
Venus
lies to the east of the Sun or to the west.
When it lies to the east, it rises and sets a short time after the Sun and is
visible in early evening twilight. When it lies to the west of the Sun, it
rises and sets a short time before the Sun and is visible shortly before
sunrise.
At each apparition, Venus reaches a maximum separation from
the Sun of around 48°.
However, some times of the year are more favourable for viewing Venus than others. From Orlando, it reaches
a peak altitude of between
29°
and
48°
above the horizon at sunrise
during each morning apparition,
depending on the time of year. During its 2023–2024 apparition,
it will peak at
45° above the horizon at
sunrise on
22 Oct 2023.
This variability over the course of the year is due to the inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon.
The inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon
The inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon changes over the course of the year, affecting how high
planets close to the Sun appear in the sky.
At all times, Venus lies close to a line across the sky
called the ecliptic, which is shown in yellow in the planetarium above. This line
traces the path that the Sun takes through the zodiacal constellations every year, and
shows the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Since all the planets circle the
Sun in almost exactly the same plane, it also closely follows the planes of the orbits
of the other planets, too.
When Venus is widely separated from the Sun, it is separated from it
along the line of the ecliptic. But, at different times of year, the ecliptic meets the horizon
at different angles at sunrise. This means that
Venus appears at different
altitudes above the horizon at different times of year, even if its separation from the Sun is the same.
If the ecliptic meets the horizon at a shallow angle, then Venus has to be very widely
separated from the Sun to appear much above the horizon. Conversely, if the ecliptic is almost perpendicular
to the horizon, Venus may appear much higher in the sky, even if it is
actually much closer to the Sun.
At sunset, the
ecliptic makes its steepest angle to the horizon at the spring equinox – in March
in the northern hemisphere, and in September in the southern hemisphere. Conversely, it meets the horizon at its
shallowest angle at the autumn equinox. Because the seasons are opposite in the northern
and southern hemispheres, a good apparition of Venus in one hemisphere will usually
be poorly placed in the other.
At sunrise, these dates are also inverted, so that for morning apparitions of Venus,
the ecliptic makes its steepest angle to the
horizon at the autumn equinox, and its shallowest angle to the horizon at the spring equinox.
The optimum time for an apparition of Venus
The maximum altitude of Venus during all its morning apparitions between 2000 and 2050, as a function of the
day of the year on which greatest western elongation occurs. Different colours show the altitudes observed
from
different latitudes. Click to expand.
For this reason, the day when Venus reaches its widest separation from the Sun (greatest
elongation) is not necessarily the same day when it appears highest in the sky at
sunrise. Venus typically appears highest
in the sky a few days or weeks closer to the autumn equinox
than the moment of greatest elongation.
The inclination of the ecliptic plane to the horizon at Orlando varies between 84° (sunrise at the autumn equinox) and 38° (sunrise at the spring equinox). On October 23, the ecliptic is inclined at 81° to the eastern dawn horizon, as shown by the yellow line in the planetarium above, meaning that this apparition of Venus will be well placed and prominent, reaching a peak altitude of 45° above the horizon at sunrise.
Venus’s position
The position of Venus when it reaches greatest elongation will be:
Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
Venus | 10h59m10s | 6°19’N | Leo | -4.4 | 24.0″ |
Sun | 13h51m | 11°28’S | Virgo | -26.7 | 32’09” |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 23 Oct 2023
Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
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Image credit
© NASA/Ricardo Nunes