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Brothers of the Earth
Venus describes an orbit that is closer to the Sun than Earth's. Seen from our planet, as it moves through its orbit, it seems to oscillate in the sky around the king star. Its 'elongation' (angular separation from the Sun) reaches 45 degrees maximum. That is, Venus can only be seen relatively close to the Sun, either at sunrises or sunsets. Mars, on the other hand, that orbits farther from the Sun than Earth, can be seen for longer periods of the night.
Venus has size, mass and composition similar to those on Earth, but because of its proximity to the Sun, it is a real hell. In addition, the Venusian atmosphere is much denser than the terrestrial one, which creates an extreme greenhouse effect. The average temperature of Venus exceeds 450 degrees Celsius on both the day and night sides.
The size of Mars is approximately half that of the Earth, but its rotation period and seasonal cycles are very similar to those of our planet. However, being farther from the Sun, its average temperature is much lower than the Earth's, about 46 degrees Celsius below zero.
On the other side of the sun
Venus is now on the other side of the Sun, about 246 million kilometers away. From the beginning of the year until the beginning of summer we could see it in the sunrises, like a morning star that shone splendidly. But from July it was close to the line of sight to the Sun and, since then, stopped seeing each other. Now, in the first days of October, he returns to our skies in the form of an evening star.
Although very low on the horizon, we can see it on the weekend of October 5 and 6 shortly after twilight, at about 7:45 p.m. You will lie down immediately in the west, so we must be attentive to its rapid appearance. As October progresses, Venus will gradually gain in height and be seen for longer periods.
Mars, which has not been visible since July, will also return little by little, but at dawn. As we will promptly report in our Appointments with Heaven, the red planet, in the form of a morning star, will form beautiful prints with the Moon at the sunrises of the end of October.
Conjunction of Saturn with the Moon
Recall that in these first days of autumn Jupiter and Saturn continue to show ostentatiously during the first part of the night. So, if Venus resists us by being too low, we can look up at the giant planets.
On Saturday day 5, Saturn will form a beautiful conjunction with the Moon, which will be in its growing room. We can begin to see them after sunset, when the sky is very dark, at about 9pm. As the night progresses, the movement of our satellite will bring it closer and closer to the giant of the rings. The couple will lie down gently, after the southwest horizon, towards midnight, when they will be separated by a very short angular distance, of just 0.7 degrees.
Rafael Bachiller is an astronomer and director of the National Astronomical Observatory (IGN)
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