Is Venus the morning star right now?
Venus is the evening star right now, 37.3° east of the Sun, and stays on the evening side until October 24, 2026. When it is up, look west after sunset.
The next dates that matter, in UTC, computed by CycleCalcs: Venus reaches greatest brilliancy on September 22, 2026, at magnitude -4.8. It turns retrograde against the stars on October 3, 2026. Venus passes inferior conjunction on October 24, 2026 and crosses into the morning sky.
As of . With JavaScript on, the readout and countdowns recompute live on your device, and the readout follows the time scrubber below.
Venus right now
Without JavaScript this panel shows the state at the timestamp above; the numbers on this page were computed at build time from the same engine the live view uses. Everything runs on your device; no location ever leaves your browser.
The 584-day cycle, live
The ring is one full synodic cycle of Venus (one "apparition cycle": morning-sky spell, evening-sky spell, and the two conjunctions between them): 0° at the top is inferior conjunction, 180° at the bottom is superior conjunction, and the marker is where Venus sits right now. Inside the ring, the orbits and positions of the Sun, Earth and Venus are to scale; the dots themselves are enlarged to stay visible. Drag the slider to move through the cycle and watch all three angles of the Sun-Earth-Venus triangle change together; they always sum to 180°.
- Venus at the scrubbed instant
- conjunctions (Sun-centred alignment) and greatest elongations (widest from the Sun in our sky)
- greatest brilliancy
- retrograde stations
The scrubber covers one cycle back and two cycles forward. Numbers while scrubbing are computed live on your device with the same engine as the API.
Every transition in the coming cycle, with countdowns
Computed, not copied: the same shared calculation drives this table, the API and the live view above. Conjunction instants use the classical heliocentric convention; greatest-elongation and brilliancy instants are flat extrema, so treat their times as good to the hour.
| Date (UTC) | Countdown | Event | What changes for an observer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-22 | today | Greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.8) | Venus reaches its brightest for this apparition, the trade-off between how much of the disk is lit and how large it appears. |
| 2026-10-03 | in 11 days | Station, retrograde begins | Venus appears to stand still against the stars, then drifts westward (retrograde) for the weeks around inferior conjunction. |
| 2026-10-24 | in 32 days | Inferior conjunction (6.5°) | Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun, invisible in the glare, and crosses from the evening sky into the morning sky. |
| 2026-11-14 | in 53 days | Station, direct motion resumes | Venus appears to stand still again, then resumes its normal eastward drift against the stars. |
| 2026-11-27 | in 66 days | Greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.9) | Venus reaches its brightest for this apparition, the trade-off between how much of the disk is lit and how large it appears. |
| 2027-01-03 | in 103 days | Greatest western elongation (47.0°) | The morning apparition peaks: Venus stands as far from the Sun as this cycle allows, and its longest morning visibility falls in the weeks around this date. |
| 2027-08-11 | in 323 days | Superior conjunction (1.3°) | Venus passes behind the Sun, invisible in the glare, and crosses from the morning sky into the evening sky. |
| 2028-03-22 | in 547 days | Greatest eastern elongation (46.1°) | The evening apparition peaks: Venus stands as far from the Sun as this cycle allows, and its longest evening visibility falls in the weeks around this date. |
| 2028-04-27 | in 583 days | Greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7) | Venus reaches its brightest for this apparition, the trade-off between how much of the disk is lit and how large it appears. |
| 2028-05-10 | in 596 days | Station, retrograde begins | Venus appears to stand still against the stars, then drifts westward (retrograde) for the weeks around inferior conjunction. |
| 2028-06-01 | in 618 days | Inferior conjunction (0.8°) | Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun, invisible in the glare, and crosses from the evening sky into the morning sky. |
| 2028-06-22 | in 639 days | Station, direct motion resumes | Venus appears to stand still again, then resumes its normal eastward drift against the stars. |
With a location chosen above, this table also gains up to two approximate rows, first and last visibility for the apparitions in view, estimated for your coordinates from a simple twilight-altitude rule. They depend on your horizon and the clarity of the air, so treat them as a window, not an appointment.
The five-petaled rosette
Five of these 584-day cycles land almost exactly on eight Earth years, so the Earth-to-Venus line traces the same five-petaled rosette every eight years. The curve below is the line from Earth to Venus, traced over 8 years.
Method, honestly stated
Every number on this page is computed, not copied, and is reliable for the years 1700 to 2200; the method is public. The event dates are the same instants the CycleCalcs API serves at /v2/planet-events: conjunctions use the classical heliocentric relative-longitude definition (apparent geocentric instants can differ by minutes up to more than an hour), station times come from the same root-finder as the retrograde board, and greatest-elongation and brilliancy instants are flat extrema quoted to the hour. Greatest brilliancy is where this magnitude model peaks; published dates using other definitions, such as greatest illuminated extent, can sit several days away. Rise, set and twilight numbers include standard atmospheric refraction.
Frequently asked questions
When does Venus next switch between evening star and morning star?
On October 24, 2026, at inferior conjunction, Venus crosses into the morning sky. It is lost in the Sun's glare around that date: for a stretch of days around an inferior conjunction.
How far from the Sun does Venus appear to get in the sky?
At most about 47 degrees of sky, roughly a quarter of the way from horizon to horizon. The next peak is January 3, 2027 at 47.0 degrees, its greatest western (morning) elongation.
When is Venus at its brightest next?
Around September 22, 2026, at magnitude -4.8. Greatest brilliancy comes about five weeks either side of inferior conjunction, when the growing crescent and the shrinking distance trade off best.
Keep exploring
- Venus: facts and cycles: the full fact page, with apparition tables to 2032
- The 8-year Venus cycle: why the pattern repeats almost exactly every eight years
- Which planets are retrograde right now: the live status board for all eight planets
- Synodic period calculator: where the 584-day rhythm comes from
- Mercury tracker: the same live tracker for Mercury's 116-day cycle.