THIS MONTH’S PLANETS
The second planet from the Sun makes for an impressive evening target
PLANET OF THE MONTH
Venus will be a very bright ‘evening star’, easily visible to the naked eye, but it could have some very interesting company. Venus shines brighter than any other planet in the sky for two reasons. Firstly, it’s very close to us, and secondly, it’s covered with a very dense atmosphere which acts like a mirror and reflects the Sun’s bright light. This is why Venus can appear, at its best, like a lantern blazing in the morning or evening sky. Venus might look lovely – it was named after the goddess of love because it appears so beautiful in the sky – but its appearance is deceptive. Although it’s roughly the same size as Earth, and is often called ‘Earth’s twin’, it’s a very different world. That highly reflective atmosphere is mostly poisonous carbon dioxide gas, and beneath that deep, curdled atmosphere its surface is barren, the rocks and boulders covering it blistered by the extreme heat. Many scientists now believe that there are active volcanoes on Venus today.