Why Venus appears as the Brightest Planet in the Night Sky: Facts and Dates for 2023

KOMPAS.com – Jupiter is a bright planet. Mars also sometimes looks bright. However, both Jupiter and Mars, the brightest planet in the sky is Venus.

The planet Venus is the 3rd brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon. Currently, Venus is shining in the night sky with a magnitude of -4.1.

The distance between Venus and Earth is close in orbit around the sun. However, the proximity of Venus to Buni isn’t the only reason Venus looks bright in the night sky.

It is Venus’ reflectivity that makes it appear bright

Reporting from EarthSky, the albedo of Planet Venus is close to 0.7. This means that Venus reflects about 70% of the sunlight that hits it. Albedo is the constant of the reflection of sunlight by a surface. The higher the albedo, the more light is reflected.

Also read: 5 Interesting Facts about the Planet Venus, Its Temperature Can Reach 471 C

As the moon approaches its full moon in Earth’s sky, it can appear much brighter than Venus, but it reflects only about 10% of the light that hits it.

The moon appears bright from Earth only because of its proximity to Earth. The Moon is only about a light second away, as opposed to a few light minutes for Venus.

However, Venus is not the most reflective object in the solar system. There is also Enceladus, Saturn’s moon, whose icy surface reflects about 90% of the sunlight that hits it.

Also read: Can Volcanoes on the Planet Venus Erupt?

When will Venus be brightest in 2023?

This year, Venus will be the brightest object in the night sky on July 7, 2023, when it reaches magnitude -4.7.

Also, Venus will be the brightest object in the morning sky again on September 19, 2023, when it shines with a magnitude of -4.8.

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