What is the bright star in the east before sunrise? Venus — the brightest object in the solar system after the sun and moon — is now in its bright “Morning Star” phase, shining brilliantly in the pre-dawn sky. If you’re an early riser and you haven’t noticed it yet, prepare to do so because Earth’s sister planet is about to be as high in the morning sky as it gets in 2025.
When And Where To See Venus This Weekend
According to EarthSky, Venus will be farthest from the sunrise at 04:00 UTC on Sunday, June 1, 2025. This means it rises the longest time before the sun, so it is higher in the morning sky. It is, therefore, the easiest time to see Venus in the eastern sky before dawn.
In June, it will be visible due east, shining at -4.2 magnitude, with Saturn to its upper-right, shining at +1.1 magnitude (magnitude measures how bright an object appears from Earth). Venus will appear to shine about 100 times brighter than Saturn.
You can find the exact time Venus will appear to rise in the east from where you are by checking Timeanddate.com’s Night Sky Tonight page and entering your location.
Understanding ‘Greatest Western Elongation’
This moment is the planet’s greatest western elongation, which is when one of the inner planets — Mercury and Venus — reaches its maximum apparent separation west of the sun. At greatest western elongation, these planets are far enough from the glare of the sun from our point of view, so they can be seen clearly before sunrise.
Future Sightings of Venus
After its greatest western elongation, Venus will gradually sink closer to the sun and become less visible. However, there are a few more highlights for the Venus in 2025. Before sunrise on Aug. 12, 2025, it will appear less than a degree from the giant planet Jupiter in the east-northeast pre-dawn sky. That’s set to be a fabulous sight, as will its close conjunction with Regulus — the brightest star in the constellation Leo — before sunrise on Sept. 19, 2025, again in the easy-northeast pre-dawn sky. The planet and the star will appear just half a degree from each other, with a 7%-lit crescent moon just above.
Orbit Of Venus
Earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun, but Venus only 227 (Earth) days. Venus often catches up with Earth, reaches its closest point (when it appears to be lost in the sun’s glare between Earth and the sun) then overtakes it, journeying around the sun’s far side from Earth’s point of view, so getting lost in the sun’s glare once again. As seen from Earth, Venus appears to have an eight-year cycle in which it orbits the sun 13 times. It takes 225 Earth days to orbit the sun, yet 243 Earth days to rotate, making a day on the planet longer than a year. Venus has the hottest planetary surface in the solar system, with temperatures of nearly 500 degrees Celsius, and its surface atmospheric pressure is around 90 times that on Earth.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
