Venus Shows Off Its “Horns” in a Rare Twilight Glow
A backlit Venus creates a dazzling crescent arc that looks like a set of glowing horns.
Wow! Tonight’s Astronomy Picture of the Day showcases a spectacular view of Venus that could easily be mistaken for a crescent Moon.
The featured photograph reveals Venus situated almost directly between the Sun and Earth. In this geometry, sunlight skims the planet’s thick atmosphere, scattering and refracting the light into a luminous arc that stretches beyond a half‑circle.
The bright tips of this arc have earned the nickname “the horns,” and the whole crescent can be spotted with a small telescope or binoculars during twilight. Those with exceptionally sharp eyesight might even glimpse it with the naked eye.
Venus, like our Moon, goes through phases. This particular phase occurs roughly once every year and a half, mirroring the monthly new‑Moon alignment but with a bright, glowing edge instead of darkness.
Historical records suggest that ancient Babylonian astronomers were among the first to study the planet’s brightness changes, which are tied to its phases. Similar observations appear in some of the oldest surviving Maya manuscripts.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s picture, which promises another celestial wonder.
