Planet of the month
This month Venus will be visible in the east before dawn, looking like a brilliant, bright, blue-white spark in the sky, far brighter than any other planet or star in the sky at that time. Venus was already a very striking sight in mid-July, but as the mornings have passed it has become even more so, reaching its highest point in the morning sky on 8 September. Even leading up to its spectacular rise before dawn in September, Venus is easy pickings for early risers. On 13 August the planet reaches greatest western elongation, dazzling at magnitude -4.3.