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Astronomers Brace for Venus, Sun Conjunction

As Venus transitions from the evening to the morning sky, its inferior conjunction with Sun marks a significant moment in its orbital cycle

Tuesday March 11, 2025 12:31 PM, Science Desk

[Representative image]

The ongoing month of March 2025 has in it a number of celestial events, including a rare Venus and Sun conjunction.

Planetary Conjunction

A planetary conjunction occurs when two or more celestial objects come very close to each other, looking almost touching.

Planetary conjunction is common when Moon comes close to hugging other Planets or two and more planets come close to each other.

Venus, Sun Conjunction

A planet coming close to Sun, however, is not so frequent. And, the uncommon moment is on March 23, 2025 when Venus is set to hurtle toward its inferior conjunction with the Sun.

Venus is visible in the sky, and can still be seen as a bright 'star' in the early evening, if you look to the west.

But, it will not be visible with naked eyes on March 22/23, 2025 when it reaches inferior conjunction, sitting between Earth and the Sun, according to BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

Venus and Mercury are in conjunction on March 12, and Venus will become invisible to the naked eye shortly after this.

As Venus transitions from the evening to the morning sky, its inferior conjunction with Sun marks a significant moment in its orbital cycle.

This event occurs when Venus passes between Earth and the Sun, a position it reaches approximately every 19 months. The last time Sun and Venus came in conjunction was on Jue 04, 2024.

Venus burning at 426°C

As Venus hurtles toward its inferior conjunction with the Sun on March 22/23, astronomers are capturing a rare glimpse of its night side, which is surprisingly radiant.

Unlike the Moon, whose night side shines due to Earth's reflected light, Venus's night side glows with its own thermal emission.

This phenomenon is made visible through the use of infrared filters, which allow observers to see the planet's intense heat, according to India Today.

Maximilian-Vlad Teodorescu from the Institute of Space Science in Romania has successfully photographed Venus using a 1 m infrared filter, highlighting the planet's scorching temperatures.

The images resemble a crescent Moon but with a crucial difference: Venus's glow is intrinsic, resulting from surface temperatures averaging 426.67C, hot enough to melt lead.

This extreme heat is a result of Venus's dense atmosphere, which traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect.

Meanwhile, skygazers are also gearing up for the “Blue Moon” on March 13/14 when Moon will be in total eclipse and will turn reddish or deep crimson colour, and Solar Eclipse on March 29.

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