THIS MONTH’S PLANETS
Venus continues to dazzle in the dawn sky as a bright spark of light
Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, and it alternates between being a morning and an evening star. All through this month it will be a dazzling morning star, rising well before the Sun and outshining everything else in the sky apart from the Moon. At the very start of the month it will be shining in the constellation of Leo, and far brighter than any of its stars, but by 4 November it will have drifted over into Virgo. Venus will rise more than four hours before the Sun, and will still be visible as a silvery-blue spark as the eastern sky begins to brighten with the approach of dawn. Between rising and slowly fading away, Venus will look like a beautiful lantern in the sky, drawing your eyes away from everything else.