What is the Evening Star?
The term “evening star” is used to describe a planet which is visible right around dusk, typically when the sky is too light for the true stars to be seen. This phenomenon can also occur in the morning, in which case the planet is known as a “morning star.” Many planets can appear as both morning and evening stars, depending on where they are in their orbit and where Earth is in relation to the planet and the Sun. People have found the appearance of such planets compelling for centuries, as ample florid poems about the appearance of the evening star would suggest. Most commonly, Venus appears as the evening star. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky after the moon, and it’s also one of the larger objects in the sky, which makes it easy to see. This planet always appears to be close to the Sun, because its orbit is located between the Earth and the Sun. Venus appears as a bright mark in the sky near the setting Sun at dusk, or in the vicinity of the Sun at dawn as the morning
