Is Venus the morning star right now?
Venus is the morning star right now, 20.5° west of the Sun, and stays on the morning side until August 11, 2027. When it is up, look east before sunrise.
The next dates that matter, in UTC, computed by CycleCalcs: Direct motion resumes on November 14, 2026. Venus reaches greatest brilliancy on November 27, 2026, at magnitude -4.9. Greatest western elongation, the peak of a morning apparition, comes on January 3, 2027 (47.0° from the Sun).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-14 | in 7 days | Station, direct motion resumes | Venus appears to stand still again, then resumes its normal eastward drift against the stars. |
| 2026-11-27 | in 20 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 58 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 278 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 502 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 538 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 551 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 573 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 594 days | Station, direct motion resumes | Venus appears to stand still again, then resumes its normal eastward drift against the stars. |
| 2028-07-05 | in 607 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. |
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.
Follow Venus by email
An occasional free email on the sky ahead: the Moon, the planets, Venus included, and the events worth going outside for.
Frequently asked questions
When does Venus next switch between evening star and morning star?
On August 11, 2027, at superior conjunction, Venus crosses into the evening sky. It is lost in the Sun's glare around that date: for several weeks around a superior 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 November 27, 2026, at magnitude -4.9. 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.