Astronomy Essentials

Venus now brilliant in the evening sky

Posted by
Editors of EarthSky
and
January 15, 2025
Chart with a starred dot for Venus and a smaller dot for Saturn.
Venus shines brilliantly as darkness falls in early February. Nearby will be the steady golden light of Saturn. Venus sets several hours after sunset. Saturn will be at its best at the beginning of the month and continue to fade as it slips closer to the horizon each day. Chart via EarthSky.

Venus after sunset in February

In February 2025, Venus – Earth’s brightest neighboring planet – is shining in the western twilight after sunset. You can’t miss Venus! It’s exceedingly bright and will penetrate the bright twilight. It’ll remain visible in the evening sky through March. Greatest elongation – when Venus reached its farthest distance from the sunset – came on January 9-10, 2025. And Venus reached its greatest brilliancy in the evening sky on February 14, 2025.

As the 2nd planet in orbit (going outward fro the sun), Venus is bound by an invisible tether to the sun in our sky. It’s always east before sunrise, or west after sunset (never overhead at midnight). Venus is the brightest planet visible from Earth and shines brilliantly throughout every morning or evening apparition. Greatest elongation happens when Venus is farthest from the sun on the sky’s dome.

2025 EarthSky lunar calendar is available. A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar with phases of the moon for every night of the year. Get yours today!

For precise sun and Venus rising times at your location:

Old Farmer’s Almanac (U.S. and Canada)

timeanddate.com (worldwide)

Stellarium (free online planetarium program)

When did greatest elongation occur?

Greatest elongation occurred at 5 UTC on January 10, 2025 (11 p.m. CST on January 9). Venus was in our evening sky, in the west after sunset. At this elongation, the distance of Venus from the sun on the sky’s dome was 47 degrees. Then, after greatest elongation, Venus will sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-March 2025.
Magnitude at greatest elongation: Venus was shining at magnitude -4.4.
Through a telescope: Venus appeared 51% illuminated, near a first quarter phase, 24.5 arcseconds across.

Read more: Venus brightest in the evening sky around February 14, 2025

Moon and Venus in February

Star chart showing a starred dot representing Venus and a crescent shape, the moon, far above it. Below the starred dot is a smaller dot representing Saturn.
On February 2, 2025, the growing waxing crescent moon lay above Venus and Saturn in the western evening sky. Saturn will be edging closer to the horizon all month and slip away by month’s end. Do you see a lovely glow on the unlit portion of the moon? That’s earthshine, light reflected off the Earth. Chart via EarthSky.
A very thin crescent shape is above the horizon with a small dot, Mercury, sitting above it. A large starred dot, Venus, lies far above them both.
On the evening of February 28, 2025, a slender waxing crescent moon will float above the western horizon about 30-40 minutes after sunset. Far above it, Venus will glow brightly. Look for bright Mercury close to the moon. Chart via EarthSky.

February Charts for Venus and Saturn

Chart with a starred dot representing Venus sitting above a small dot representing Saturn which is close to the horizon.
In mid-February, brilliant Venus – at its greatest brilliancy in the evening sky – lies above the much dimmer Saturn, which will lie close to the horizon. Around February 20, 2025, Saturn will drop below the horizon, lost from view. Chart via EarthSky.
Star chart showing a large starred dot, Venus, above the small dot for Mercury.
Venus remains a bright light after sunset in late February. It’ll slip away in March and emerge in the morning sky in April. It’ll reach its greatest distance from the morning sun on May 31-June 1, 2025. Mercury will emerge in the bright evening twilight low in the west the last few days of the month and reach its greatest distance from the sun on March 7-8, 2025. Chart via EarthSky.

Venus after sunset in the Northern Hemisphere

Diagram: Path of Venus over horizon, following a long arc, with its phases with their dates shown along it.
Venus’ greatest evening elongation in 2025 from the Northern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th and 21st of each month. Ticks along the horizon are 5° apart. The scale is 2 mm to 1 degree. The planet is exaggerated 600 times in size. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

Venus after sunset in the Southern Hemisphere

Diagram: Path of Venus over horizon, following a short arc, with its phases with their dates shown along it.
Venus’ greatest evening elongation in 2025 from the Southern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Ticks along the horizon are 5° apart. The scale is 2 mm to 1 degree. The planet is exaggerated 600 times in size. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

A comparison of elongations

Not all of Venus’ greatest elongations are created equal. That’s because the farthest from the sun that Venus can ever appear on the sky’s dome is about 47.3 degrees. On the other hand, the least distance is around 45.4 degrees.

Elongations are also higher or lower depending on the time of year they occur and your location on Earth.

Diagram: 3 asymmetrical humps, 2 gray and 1 blue, with arced lines in them and dates.
A comparison chart of Venus elongations in 2025. Gray areas represent evening apparitions (eastward elongation). The blue area represents morning apparitions (westward elongation). The top figures are the maximum elongations, reached at the top dates shown beneath. Curves show the altitude of the planet above the horizon at sunrise or sunset, for latitude 40 degrees north (thick line) and 35 degrees south (thin). Maxima are reached at the parenthesized dates below (40 degrees north bold). Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

Venus events from late 2024 to 2026

June 4, 2024: Superior conjunction (passed behind sun from Earth)
January 10, 2025: Greatest elongation (evening)
March 23, 2025: Inferior conjunction (races between Earth and sun)
June 1, 2025: Greatest elongation (morning)
January 6, 2026: Superior conjunction (passed behind sun from Earth)
August 15, 2026: Greatest elongation (evening)
October 23, 2026: Inferior conjunction (races between Earth and sun)
January 3, 2027: Greatest elongation (morning)

Bottom line: Look for Venus after sunset! It’s high in February’s sky for all to see. Look west for a dazzling point.

Posted 
January 15, 2025
 in 
Astronomy Essentials

Editors of EarthSky

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