YOGYAKARTA - Have you ever seen a very bright celestial object in the morning or afternoon? That is Venus, a planet that often confuses many people. The question, why is the planet Venus called the morning star and the evening star?
The second planet from the Sun has a uniqueness that makes it look like the brightest star in the sky. Summarized by VOI from the NASA website, here are some interesting facts about the planet Venus:
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and Earth's closest neighbor. The planet is almost the same size as Earth, with an equatorial diameter of about 12,104 kilometers.
Interestingly, Venus is often referred to as Earth's twin because of its similar structure but its surface conditions are very extreme.
Venus' thick atmosphere traps heat in an unmitigated greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead.
The planet Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks saw Venus in two different forms.
First as the morning star that appears before sunrise, then as the evening star that is seen after sunset. They even thought Venus was two different objects at different times of the year.
In addition, because the extraordinary brightness makes Venus easy to see with the naked eye, ancient civilizations give this phenomenon of the appearance of Venus an important meaning in their culture.
English:
From our point of view, Venus' orbit closer to the Sun makes the two objects never seen far apart. This is the perspective trick that explains the phenomenon.
Read also the article discussing What Movements Can Happen to Celestial Objects? Here's the Explanation
Venus orbits the Sun at an average distance of 108 million kilometers, or 0.72 astronomical units. At its closest distance, Venus is about 38 million kilometers from Earth. Then Venus' thick and dense atmosphere reflects sunlight very efficiently, making it the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon.
Well, because of its inferior orbital position (inside the Earth's orbit), Venus is only visible in the morning before dawn or in the afternoon after dusk, and it is never seen in the middle of the night.
Venus shows phases like the Moon when observed through a telescope or binoculars. The complete cycle from new to full phase takes 584 days.
In the past, observations of the phases of Venus by Galileo through his telescope provided key scientific evidence to prove Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the solar system.
Then, if you observe it for months, you will see Venus change phases (full, half, quarter, and so on) with a consistent and predictable pattern, unlike a real star that does not show phases.
Venus is not a true star, but a planet that is only visible in the morning or afternoon. This phenomenon can be observed easily using the naked eye from Earth, making it an interesting astronomical experience to study.
Why Venus is called the morning star and the evening star is now answered, namely because of its orbit position closer to the Sun and its high light reflection ability.
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