Venus’ Visual Magnitude

Written on June 24, 2008 by Adam

Greetings All,

A short question in response to the statement in the great June ‘08 VAN article on Venus: “… Venus is at its brightest when it is retrograde, as this is the period when it is furthest from the sun,…” Starlight confirms that Venus is brightest at its rx station (next one is 6 Mar 2009), but she is by no means furthest from the sun then. She is a full 17+ degrees closer to the Sun at her station than at her max. elongation of 48deg 20′ (next one is 2 Jan 2009). So, the question appears to be, Does Venus appear brightest to us at her station due to the wide swing arc of her retrograde loop which sends her further away from the Sun than simple celestial longitude can measure? If not this, then why might she appear to us to be brighter when she is much closer to the Sun by longitude?

Thanks very much!

Best to All, Adam

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