Planets · 3 of 6

Venus's Eight-Year Star

How does Venus draw a five-pointed star every eight years?

The evening star, the morning star, and the five-pointed pattern its meetings with the Sun draw on the zodiac every eight years.

You’ll be able to tell whether Venus is an evening or a morning star, and when it will switch.

7 steps · about 5 min

Where and which night

Working out when this is best placed from where you are…

Where

Which night

Date

Time

Kept for this guide only, until you change it here — your map settings, and every other guide, stay as they are.

Print, play outside or present

Present on a big screen

Scan with a phone's camera, or open

Sources

Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed. (1998), ch. 36 and 41 — conjunctions and greatest elongations
Espenak, Twelve Year Planetary Ephemeris (NASA) — the dates of Venus's conjunctions
Espenak, Six Millennium Catalog of Venus Transits (NASA) — the pairs of 2004/2012 and 2117/2125
Aveni, Skywatchers (2001) — the Venus table of the Dresden Codex

← GUIDES

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With a keyboard, focus the sky, aim it with the up and down arrow keys, and press Enter to drop the pin at the centre of the view; or press Show me.

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Settings

Screen

Night mode Turns every page red, to keep your eyes adjusted to the dark.

High contrast Bolder constellation lines, larger and brighter names on the sky, and stronger text and edges everywhere. Starts on if your device asks for more contrast.

Reduce motion The camera cuts to where it is going instead of flying there, and panels and sheets appear without sliding. Starts on if your device asks for less motion.

Battery saver Draws the sky thirty times a second at most: smoothness traded for battery.

Night brightness Dims the screen below your phone’s lowest setting, down to a fifth, while night mode is on.

Clock and voice

Clock How every time is written. Until you choose, your language’s own clock decides.

D describes What D says about the view on the sky: one sentence, or in full with the field, the constellation and five names.

Sounds Quiet tones as you use the map: a tick as you drag the clock past a mark or dusk, a chime for the star you pick — higher for hotter stars — and a low swell while a figure is out of the dome. Made in your browser, and off until you turn them on.

All settings and your progress

Venus at its farthest from the Sun: the arc, never past 47°, under five fists at arm's length. Every 584 days it passes between us and the Sun.

The same moment from outside. One line runs from Earth to the Sun, the other through Venus to the stars, and it only grazes Venus's ring. That is the farthest an orbit 0.72 the size of ours lets it swing: 46°. Mercury's smaller, lopsided ring allows 18° to 28°.

Three and a half years of Venus's angle from the Sun, east in the evening, west in the morning. It turns back at about 46° every time, and every 584 days passes between us and the Sun.

Mark each passing on the zodiac and join them in order. Each lands 144° west of the one before, two-fifths of a lap back, so five draw a star, and the sixth almost closes it: five 584-day cycles are eight of our years.

The same eight years as Venus's path around us: five loops, one at each passing, where it overtakes the Earth on the inside track. The next eight years trace almost the same rose.

Your next look: the readout says when and which way. Thirteen Venus years are eight of ours; the Maya tabled it in the Dresden Codex. Its tilted orbit crosses the Sun's face in pairs eight years apart: 2004 and 2012, then 2117 and 2125 (Eclipse Seasons).

As far as Venus ever gets: look for it there at dusk or dawn.

Never more than 47° from the Sun
Evening star, then morning star
Five passings in eight years: a star