Astronomy Essentials

Venus now brilliant in the evening sky

Posted by
Editors of EarthSky
and
January 9, 2025
A series of three charts showing Venus rising and Saturn dropping closer to the horizon. The two dots pass on January 17 and 18.
Look for Venus after sunset in January. It shines brightly after dark in the western evening sky. It reached its greatest distance from the sunset at 11 p.m. CST on January 9 or 5 UTC on January 10, 2025. It’ll set about 4 hours after sunset and is a beacon in a dark sky. Saturn will be there too – it’s less bright than Venus – but they’ll make a lovely pair in the evening sky as they race toward each other. Their closest approach will be on the evenings of January 17-18, 2025. The planetary pair will make an eye-catching sight and lie about 2.2 degrees apart at their closest. Chart via EarthSky.

Venus after sunset in January

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

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 will greatest elongation occur?

Greatest elongation was at 5 UTC on January 10, 2025. That’s 11 p.m. CST on January 9. Venus is 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 quickly sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-March 2025.
Magnitude at greatest elongation: Venus will shine at magnitude -4.4.
Through a telescope: Venus will appear 51% illuminated, near a first quarter phase, 24.5 arcseconds across.

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

Charts for Venus and Saturn January 17 and 18

Chart showing the white dot of Saturn next to the white starred dot of Venus.
Dazzling Venus will lie close to the steady golden light of Saturn after sunset on January 17 and 18, 2025. Saturn has been closing in on Venus all month and will soon become difficult to see in the evening twilight in February. Chart via EarthSky.
White starred dot moves along an arrow to the upper left. A small dot lies left.
Here’s a binocular view of Venus and Saturn on the evenings January 17 and 18, 2025. Chart via EarthSky.

Venus after sunset in the Northern Hemisphere

Diagram: Path of Venus over horizon, following an arc, with planet's 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°. The planets are 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 an arc, with planet's 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°. The planets are 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: 3asymmetrical 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). Blue areas represent 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 January’s sky for all to see. It’ll be farthest from the sunset today. Look west for a dazzling point.

Posted 
January 9, 2025
 in 
Astronomy Essentials

Editors of EarthSky

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