An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A pink to brownish border above the horizon separating the Earth's dark shadow on the sky from the sky above it. The Belt of Venus appears during a cloudless twilight just before sunrise or after sunset. It is due to scattered red sunlight in the atmosphere. Also called anti-twilight arc.

→ belt, → Venus.

The gradual variation of the apparent shape of → Venus between a small, full → disk and a larger → crescent. The first telescopic observation of the phases of Venus by Galileo (1610) proved the → Ptolemaic system could not be correct. The reason is that with the → geocentric system the phases of Venus would be impossible. More specifically, in that model Venus lies always between Earth and Sun. Hence its fully bright surface would always be toward the Sun; so Venus could not be seen in full phase from Earth. Only slim crescents would be possible. On the other hand, this phenomenon could not prove the → heliocentric system, because it could equally be explained with the → Tychonic model.

→ phase; → Venus.

A rare phenomenon that happens when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth and is therefore seen against the solar disk. Such a passage occurs every 122 or 105 years and when it happens the next occurrence is after 8 years. Only seven transits of Venus have occurred since the invention of the telescope: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, 2004, and 2012. The next one will be in 2117. The reason for this rarity is that the Earth and Venus do not orbit the Sun in the same plane. Their orbital planes have a relative inclination of about 3°. The first observation of the Venus transit was in 1639 by the English Jeremiah Horrocks (1618-1641). See also → black drop.

→ Venus; → transit

The second → planet from the → Sun, at a mean distance of roughly 108.21 × 10⁶ km (0.72 → astronomical units). The → greatest elongation of Venus is about 47°, making it visible at most about 3 hours after sunset or before sunrise. Venus has the most circular orbit of any planet in the solar system. Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth (95% of Earth's diameter, 80% of Earth's mass). Its chemical composition and density are comparable to those of the Earth. It takes Venus just under 224.401 days to orbit the Sun, compared to the 365 day → orbital period of the Earth. Venus' rotation is → retrograde, that is it actually rotates from east to west, as opposed to west to east (→ prograde) which is the common rotating direction of most other planets. Seen from Venus, the sun would rise in the west and set in the east. Moreover, it takes about 244 Earth days for Venus to rotate once (→ sidereal rotation). This is longer than its orbital period. The length of its → solar day is about 117 Earth days. → Venus rotation. Its axial tilt is only three degrees, so there are no seasons on Venus. The → atmosphere on the surface of Venus consists mostly of → carbon dioxide, with a small trace of → nitrogen. Venus has a surface pressure about 90 times that of the Earth. See also: → Venus visibility, → transit of Venus.

O.E., from L. Venus, the goddess of beauty and love in ancient Roman mythology, from venus "love, sexual desire, beauty, charm;" PIE base *wen- "to desire, love, wish;" cf. Av. vāunuš "lovingly," vantā- "beloved one, wife;" Skt. van- "to love, desire," vanánā- "desire," vanitā- "beloved one, wife;" O.H.G. wunsc(h) "wish," wunsken "to wish."

Nâhid, planet Venus, Mid.Pers. Anahid; O.Pers. anāhita- "immaculate, unstained," goddess of pure waters and fertility, from Av. arədvī-sūra-anāhita "valient and unsustained lord of waters," from arədvī- (Skt. Saravastī) probably "she who possesses water," + sūra- "strong, powerful" (Skt. śūra- "valiant, courageous") + anāhita- "unstained," from an- negation prefix + āhita "spotted."

The → sidereal rotation period of Venus, or its → sidereal day, is 243.025 Earth days (retrograde). The length of a → solar day on Venus (that is one entire day-night period) is 116.75 Earth days, that is significantly shorter than the sidereal day because of the retrograde rotation. One Venusian year is about 1.92 Venusian solar days.

→ Venus; → rotation.

The conditions under which Venus can be seen from Earth as it travels in its orbit around the Sun. The → synodic period of Venus, that is the time Venus takes to be seen again from the Earth in the same position with respect to the Sun, is 583,92 days or just over 19 months. When Venus is between Earth and Sun (→ inferior conjunction) or on the far side of the sun (→ superior conjunction), it is invisible in the Sun's glare. Since its → greatest elongation from the Sun is never more than 47°, Venus appears only as "the morning star" and "the evening star." So at its greatest → western elongation Venus will rise about three hours ahead of the Sun and at its greatest → eastern elongation it will set about three hours after sunset. Its entire cycle is as follows:
Day 0: Superior conjunction, "full Venus."
Day 35: Venus appears in evening sky.
Day 221: Greatest → eastern elongation, "last quarter."
Day 271: Retrogression of Venus begins.
Day 286: Disappearance from the evening sky.
Day 292: Inferior conjunction, "new Venus."
Day 298: Venus appears in morning sky.
Day 313: Retrogression ends.
Day 362: Greatest → western elongation, "first quarter."
Day 549: Disappearance from morning sky.
Day 584: Superior conjunction, "full venus."
Therefore, Venus is visible as an evening star for 286 Earth days, as a morning star for 251 days, and is invisible for 47 days.

In addition, the orbital periods of Earth and Venus are closely correlated. After 8 Earth years or 13 Venus orbits, the two planets assume almost the same relative positions -- just 0.032 percent away from a perfect orbital resonance of 8:13. After this period of about 2920 Earth days, Venus appears just 1.5° (about 22 hours) in advance of its former position. Moreover, Venus exhibit → phases because its orbit lies within the Earth's. When Venus situated on the far side of the Sun from Earth, the planet is fully illuminated from our point of view. But its disk is small, just 10'' across, because it is nearly 300 million km away. When Venus is almost closest to Earth, on the near side of the Sun, it's about 60 million km away. Then it appears as a slender but much brighter crescent with a disk nearly 50'' across. See also → transit of Venus.

→ Venus; → visibility.