"Earth's Odd Twin-Sister Planet Snuggles up to the Moon During Thanksgiving Week and Prepares for a Close Meeting"

Scheduled air date: 2003 Nov 17-23

The brilliant planet Venus returns as the "Evening Star" this month.  On the evening of November 25th, the Waxing Crescent Moon and Venus make a beautiful pair low on the southwest horizon.
(Shown about an hour after sunset for mid-Northern latitudes.)

On December 1st Venus will be 218 million km/135 million mi. from Earth, but with each month it will come closer until June 8th of next year, when it reaches inferior conjunction—its closest approach—at a mere 43 million km/27 million mi. away.
(The orbits of the inner four planets of our solar system are shown from above the Sun's north pole.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.