# Venus Is Really Bright! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 24, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923 "2020-01-24T22:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/1 "2020-01-24T22:57:12Z")
I live in a city with terrible light pollution but for the last week or so Venus (and Neptune which is close by relatively) are really really bright. It’s really neat to see. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/2 "2020-01-24T23:07:30Z")
Are you using a telescope? Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye. However Venus is indeed very bright now, at about magnitude -4. It is by far the brightest thing in the sky right now except for the sun and the moon. It’s about 15 arcseconds in diameter and almost 75% lit. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/3 "2020-01-25T08:30:21Z")
I think I can confirm this. Bucharest is going through a period of really clear sky. On Thursday night I was pleasantly surprised to see Venus up when no ‘other’ stars had not become visible yet. Traditionally Romanians have special names for the first star to show up at dusk and the last star to keep twinkling at dawn. (Those names do not have an English translation, but they are equivalent to Evening Bright Star and Morning Bright Star.) The people who originally picked those names probably had no idea that it was one and the same star, which was in fact a planet. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/4 "2020-01-25T10:57:23Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > The people who originally picked those names probably had no idea that it was one and the same star, which was in fact a planet. They may not have known it was one and the same celestial body, but they probably knew it was a planet - in the sense that it moved against the background of the fixed (in human timescale) stars. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/5 "2020-01-25T14:15:06Z")
Me the other night, while out walking the dog with my wife: “Wow, Venus is bright tonight. And that must be Jupiter… no, wait, that’s an airplane.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/6 "2020-01-25T14:35:11Z")
English does in fact have standard terms “Evening Star” and “Morning Star”, both of which generally refer to Venus. Maybe that’s only one word each in Romanian, but it’s not a novel concept. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/7 "2020-01-25T14:37:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > English does in fact have standard terms “Evening Star” and “Morning Star”, both of which generally refer to Venus. Maybe that’s only one word each in Romanian, but it’s not a novel concept. On edit, I see I have been ninja’ed. Yes, “Morning Star” and “Evening Star” are common names for Venus in English. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/8 "2020-01-25T14:42:44Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > Traditionally Romanians have special names for the first star to show up at dusk and the last star to keep twinkling at dawn. (Those names do not have an English translation, but they are equivalent to Evening Bright Star and Morning Bright Star.) The people who originally picked those names probably had no idea that it was one and the same star, which was in fact a planet. The Morning Star has names like Phosphorus, Lucifer, Aurvandil, etc.; similarly the Evening Star (Hesperos, Vesper, etc.), but if you wanted to stick with English you would call it the Morning Star, Dawn-Bringer or similar, up to your poetic abilities, what else? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/9 "2020-01-25T19:31:29Z")
It is Lucifer, indeed, because the Latin word for ‘shining’ is _lucet_. They say Venus will be soaring high between late winter and early spring this year. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/10 "2020-01-25T21:26:16Z")
Lucifer means “light bringer” or “light carrier”, from Latin _lux, lucis_ = “light” and _ferre_ = “to carry”, because the appearance of Venus as the Morning Star presages the dawn. _Luxi_ = “to shine” (3rd person present _lucet_) is related to _lux_ but isn’t the immediate source of “Lucifer”, although “lucet” = “it is light” could also mean “it is dawn”. “Phosphoros” is a Greek compound word referring to Venus which also means “light bringer”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/11 "2020-01-25T22:45:05Z")
Well, we can all agree that it’s so bright that it’s in need of some restraint. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/12 "2020-01-25T22:57:32Z")
Pleased to meet you. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/13 "2020-01-27T17:48:20Z")
Not only is Venus bright, it is getting brighter: > **[Venus at greatest brightness](https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20200428_11_100)** > > 28 April 2020: Venus reaches its greatest brightness in the evening sky. – In-The-Sky.org. Venus will be at maximum brightness around March 25, 2020 at -4.5. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/14 "2020-01-27T20:22:50Z")
And you know what that means. Yep! A big increase in UFO reports over the next few months. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/15 "2020-01-28T01:37:30Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Are you using a telescope? Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye. > > However Venus is indeed very bright now, at about magnitude -4. It is by far the brightest thing in the sky right now except for the sun and the moon. It’s about 15 arcseconds in diameter and almost 75% lit. No telescope. Only reason I knew Neptune was there was via my Skymap app but thought maybe it was contributing to the brightness. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/16 "2020-01-28T21:02:56Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Venus will be at maximum brightness around March 25, 2020 at -4.5. Venus reaches its maximum brightness every 584 days. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/17 "2020-01-28T21:14:37Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > No telescope. Only reason I knew Neptune was there was via my Skymap app but thought maybe it was contributing to the brightness. Well, technically you’re right, it is contributing to the brightness, but not much. Venus is about magnitude -4.0 and Neptune is magnitude 7.9, so Venus is about 50,000 times brighter than Neptune. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venus-is-really-bright/846923/18 "2020-01-29T01:57:41Z")
Better hope Venus doesn’t become TOO bright. That might signal that Sol has gone nova. What a pickle! (Yes, that’s a Larry Niven reference.)