Moon, Venus, and Jupiter The planets Venus and Jupiter blaze
quite low in the dawn sky tomorrow like a pair of mismatched
headlights. They're side by side, just a few degrees apart, and
the crescent Moon is close by. Venus and Jupiter are the
brightest pinpoints of light in the night sky. But it's not hard
to tell them apart, because Venus is a good bit brighter. Both
worlds vary in brightness as they and Earth orbit the Sun. Right
now, Venus is on the far side of its orbit as seen from Earth,
which makes it a little fainter. But sunlight is illuminating
most of the disk that faces our way, which makes the planet a
little brighter. When you put them together, Venus is actually
just about as faint as it gets. Jupiter is on the far side of
its orbit, too, but it's a lot farther away than Venus is. But
Jupiter's a lot bigger, too. When you put those things together,
Jupiter is also about as faint as it gets. Even so, there's a
noticeable difference between Jupiter and Venus. Venus is about
six or seven times bri