HiLLAS VENUS 321 



sundown. Now she reaches her greatest elongation east of the sun 

 and shines a beautiful and conspicuous object, steadily growing 

 brighter because she is coming towards us. She now starts to travel 

 back toward the sun. In four to five weeks she attains her greatest 

 brilliancy as an evening star. About 12 days later she reaches a point 

 where she appears to remain stationery, at the place where she is 

 about to overtake us in our journey around the sun. vSoon she 

 moves gradually on in a westward course among the stars. Now 

 she draws nearer the sun, sets earlier and we see her with increasing 

 difficulty. At the end of three weeks she is on a line between us and 

 the sun, and is invisible. This is her inferior conjunction. 



About two weeks later we notice about an hour before sunrise, 

 that Venus appears as a splendid morning star. For the next three 

 weeks she attains her greatest brilliancy as a morning star. She 

 continues to glow brilliantly for some weeks and then in about five 

 more she will have reached her greatest elongation west of the sun, 

 rising three and one-half hours before dawn. 



Now Venus begins to retrace her path — she moves eastward, 

 but more slowly, and appears smaller gradually until after more 

 than seven months she reaches the sun and again is in superior 

 conjunction. From one superior conjunction to the next it is a 

 period of 584 days, varying at times, but every eight years, Venus 

 and the earth come to the same relation. 



Venus shows us her full face at superior conjunction, when 

 she is the farthest away and the smallest. When at eastern elonga- 

 tion, she appears as a half moon, becoming a thinner crescent as 

 she approaches inferior conjunction, then she repeats these phases 

 in reverse order as she approaches superior conjunction. 



We have evidence of an atmosphere on Venus by reason of the 

 ring about her as she travels across the face of the sun, and also 

 we gather that clouds must be present because of the high reflecting 

 power. We cannot judge much of the surface of Venus, even tho 

 we are so near. Her unillumined side is turned toward us when she 

 is nearest. She is much like the earth — there is a difference of less 

 than 300 miles in diameter, and the surface, mass and volume are 

 much alike. Perhaps the length of the day is equally similar but 

 we do not know. 



To the Ancients, Venus was the brightest of all heavenly bodies 

 next to the sun and the moon. As an evening star they called her 

 Hesperus or Vesper, and as a morning star Phosphorous or Lucifer. 



