Bright 'evening star' Venus to be at its brightest tonight, check timings and how to watch

Image credit: SkySafari app

It will be nearly impossible to miss the bright "evening star" Venus this week when the planet reaches its greatest brightness of the year on Tuesday (April 28). But before reaching its greatest brightness, Venus will make a close approach to the crescent moon. 

The moment of conjunction occurs at 8:53 PM IST (1523 GMT), and you will be able to watch the natural phenomena above the southwestern horizon after sunset. The moon will be about 6 degrees south of Venus in the constellation of Taurus, the bull. 

It is interesting to note that the conjunction occurs during the daytime, when it is tough to view most celestial objects but Venus can be seen even in daylight because of its brightness. But it will be better to see the conjunction after the sun set. 

At its brightest on Tuesday, Venus will be shining at a magnitude of -4.7. Magnitude is a measurement of brightness with lower numbers denoting brighter objects. 

Venus is the second-brightest object in the night sky, second only to the moon. On Tuesday night , Venus will shine around nine times brighter than Jupiter, and it will shine 20 times more than Sirius, the brightest star in Earth's night sky.

After this week, Venus will start to fade again before disappearing n the sun's glare at the end of May. The planet will reappear in early June as a "morning star."