Wed. Feb 19th, 2025

Venus and the crescent of Jumada al-Akhirah adorn the skies of the Arab world this evening sciences


Tonight, if you raise your head to the sky after sunset, you may notice the presence of a bright, clear white object, like a luminous lamp, standing next to the crescent moon in a magical scene. This object is the planet Venus, not one of the stars.

Venus is passing through its brightest state these days, and it is generally the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, and you can observe it with your eyes every day for the next several months, during which it will decorate the night sky, specifically the western horizon, and will be present for two to three hours, before descending below the horizon. .

The planets shine in the sky because they reflect sunlight like the moon does, but because they are so far away they appear as stars in the sky.

The planet Venus has a very dense atmosphere, which causes massive global warming that raises its temperature to 464 degrees Celsius, which is also the reason for its intense brilliance in the sky at night, as if it were a mirror reflecting sunlight towards the Earth.

Venus Source: Shutter Stock 60584041
Venus has a very dense atmosphere (Shutterstock)

December planets

The month of December this year represents an excellent opportunity to observe the brightest planets in the night sky. If you are a beginner and do not have a lot of knowledge about their positions in the night sky, you can use the moon as a guide, as it moves in the sky day after day, and during its movements it stands next to the planets in Sometimes.

For example, the moon will stand next to Saturn on December 8, and the planet will shine in the sky as an average star, with a yellowish color. You can easily notice it and distinguish it from the stars standing next to it.

On December 14, the moon stands next to Jupiter, which is one of the brightest objects in the sky at night, surpassed only by Venus, and shines in a clear white color.

On December 17 and 18, the moon stands next to the planet Mars, which appears clear around nine in the evening, your local time, and the planet shines in a clear red color that you can easily distinguish in the night sky.

With these scenes, December this year will be one of the most important months for amateur astronomers, but unfortunately it will not be ideal enough, as the moon is located next to the Geminid constellation in the middle of the month and during the Geminid meteor season, radically reducing the number of meteors that can be observed in Evening of December 14.


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