Astronomy Essentials

Venus after sunset: Greatest elongation on June 4, 2023

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December 27, 2022

Sky chart of bright Venus and many labeled constellations and stars. — **Venus after sunset**. Venus will be at greatest elongation – farthest from the sunset – on June 4, 2023. Look for Venus in the sunset direction as evening twilight falls. Also, if you have a dark sky, look for Mars nearby in the constellation Cancer the Crab. You’ll also see the constellation Leo the Lion higher up in the sky. Image via Stellarium.

Venus will be farthest from the sunset in June 2023.

When to watch: Venus came into view after sunset in December 2022 and will be visible in the evening sky throughout the early months of 2023. Greatest elongation – when Venus will be farthest from the sunset – will happen in early June. Afterwards, Venus will quickly sink toward the sunset as it races toward its sweep between the Earth and sun around mid-August 2023.
Where to look: Look in the sunset direction while the sky is darkening. You can’t miss Venus as the very bright evening “star.”
Greatest elongation is at 7 UTC on June 4, 2023 (source: Astropixels). Venus’s distance from sun on the sky’s dome is 46 degrees.
Magnitude at greatest elongation: Venus shines at magnitude -4.3.
Through a telescope: Venus appears 49% illuminated, in a first quarter phase, 23.56 arcseconds across.
Note: As the sun’s 2nd planet, 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.

Check out the 2023 EarthSky lunar calendar. A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar showing phases of the moon every night of the year. It makes a great gift.

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)

Venus after sunset in 2023 Northern Hemisphere

Round sphere becomes larger but thins to a crescent shape in a loop from above the horizon, from lower left to upper right and then down to lower right. — View larger. | Venus’s evening elongation in 2023 from the Northern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. Greatest elongation will come on June 4. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2023 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

Venus after sunset in 2023 Southern Hemisphere

Round sphere becomes larger but thins to a crescent shape in a loop from the left, to the right, then loops up and back down to the horizon. — View larger. | Venus’s evening elongation in 2023 from the Southern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. Greatest elongation will come on June 4. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2023 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.

A comparison of elongations

Not all of Venus’s 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 better or worse depending on the time of year they occur and your location on Earth.

Chart with light blue and gray waves, black annotations, comparing Venus elongations in 2022, 2023 and 2024. — View larger. | A comparison chart of Venus elongations in 2023. 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 2023 Astronomical Calendar.

Venus events from late 2022 into 2024

October 22, 2022: Superior conjunction (passes behind sun from Earth)
June 4, 2023: Greatest elongation (evening)
August 13, 2023: Inferior conjunction (races between Earth and sun)
October 23, 2023: Greatest elongation (morning)
June 4, 2024: Superior conjunction (passes behind sun from Earth)

Bottom line: At greatest eastern elongation on June 4, 2023, Venus is as far from the sunset as it will be for this evening apparition.

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December 27, 2022

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