Hello Venus my old friend.

I am just wondering if anyone can give me a date as to when Venus appears in the western sky at dusk?

It shouldnt be too far off now.

It is just one of the prettiest sights and i really enjoy watching it.

This year is a bonus cuz i have a scope and i can finally zero in on it.

Venus will next be visible around 10th August, low in the western sky. It will be within 1 degree of Mercury on the 21st of August. It will remain quite low in the sky for the rest of the year, although very bright, mag 3.9 - 4.1
According to the Yearbook of Astronomy, on 9th June, Venus will be at superior conjunction and occulted by the sun. The interesting thing is that this date is almost exactly halfway between the 2004 and 2012 transits.

Venus will next be visible around 10th August, low in the western sky.

I'm sure (in fact i am 100% POSITIVE) i have seen Venus as the "evening star" a hell of a lot earlier (early summer) then August .

It has the same orbit around the sun each year so why this year will it not be the evening star until August?

According to Sky View Cafe (its very good), Venus sets 3 mins after the Sun on June 10th and by the end of June it sets 25 mins after the Sun and by end of July it sets 35 mins after the Sun. On the 10th August it sets less than 40 mins after Sun. It never gets too far away from the Sun.

On another topic, apologies for the lack of sky guide as my Sky at Night magazine has not shown up this month!

Venus will next be visible around 10th August, low in the western sky.

I'm sure (in fact i am 100% POSITIVE) i have seen Venus as the "evening star" a hell of a lot earlier (early summer) then August .

It has the same orbit around the sun each year so why this year will it not be the evening star until August?

It orbits slower than we do so it gets out of phase with us as it were. That's why the times of it's visibility change from year to year.

Bart.

Hi Paul,

Venus should be visible very low in the evening twilight from July onwards. It slides along parallel to the horizon for a period before becoming a bit better placed later in the year. In mid-August it will be near Saturn and Mercury but this will be a fairly difficult observation as the trio will be very, very low and in a brightish sky.

More details in the SDAS sky guide at www.southdublinastronomy.org/w/images/6/6c/Sky_guide_2008.pdf

all the best,

John