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Solar System bodies: Venus

Solar System bodies: Venus - Astrology Encyclopedia

Definition of Solar System bodies: Venus A brilliant planet reflecting a silvery-white light, it is the most brilliant object that illuminates the evening sky. The Greeks associated it with Aphrodite. To the Romans, it was known as Lucifer, when the Morning Star: and Vesper, when the Evening Star. To the Chaldeans it was Ishtar, and compared to the Sumerian virgin mother, the "Lady of Heaven," and the goddess of fertility.

Like Mercury, Venus exhibits phases, from a large twin crescent at the Inferior Conjunction, when it is closest to the Earth, and some- times visible in daylight if you know where to look for it, to a small round orb at the Superior Conjunction, when it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth. After the Superior Conjunction it is an Evening Star, and thus is visible in the evening, sky after sun-down, setting later each evening until it reaches its maximum elongation of about 47° - at which time it sets about 3 hours after the Sun.

Shortly thereafter it attains to its greatest brilliancy, then grows rapidly smaller as it again comes closer behind the Sun, until at its Inferior Conjunction it becomes invisible. Thereafter it reappears on the other side of the Sun and becomes again visible as the Morning Star. Its motion as a Morning Star, as measured from the Earth, is slower because of its greater distance from the Earth: 26 million miles at the Inferior Conjunction, as compared to 160 million miles at the Superior Conjunction.

Its rotation period has never been established because of the layer of clouds in which it is perpetually enveloped. Its period has been variously estimated at from 68 hours to 225 days. Its axis is inclined to its orbit plane at an angle of 5 degrees. Its low albedo, or reflecting power (.59), is due to this constant cloud covering. The periods when it is a Morning and Evening Star are of about 10 months' duration each.

Transits over the Sun are rare and occur only when the Sun is within 1°45' of the node, with the Earth also at the node. Though infrequent, they come in pairs. The last such transits occurred in 1874 and 1882. It will not recur until June 8, 2004 and June 6, 2012. The duration of such a transit is about 8 hours.

(Nicholas deVore - Encyclopedia of Astrology)

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Solar System bodies: Venus

Solar System bodies: Venus - Astrology Encyclopedia

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