Renowned Qatari astronomer Dr. BeshirMarzouk yesterday revealed that the planet Venus or the ‘evening star’ would be visible with unaided eye in Doha this evening at 7.56pm, as it would be at its nearest point to the Sun at the moment.
People wishing to witness the rare phenomenon would able to see the planet without the aid of any telescope over the Western horizon after the Sun has set.
The Sun will set at 5.31pm in Doha and Venus will be located above the western horizon by 37 degrees, and will be seen until 8.20pm, Dr. Marzouk added.
One of the rare qualities of Venus is that it rotates on its axis from east to west, unlike Earth and other planets which rotate from West to East, the other planet that shares this rotating pattern with Venus is Uranus.
The Perihelion point of Venus 0.718 AU and is reached every 224.7 days, the last time Venus was at its Perihelion point was on 10th of July 2016. On this occasion, Venus appears as a white point of light brighter than any other planet or star to an unaided eye.
Another interesting thing about the Venetian orbit is that Venus “overtakes” Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun, the result of this overtaking is that it changes from the “Evening Star”, visible after sunset, to the “Morning Star”, visible before sunrise.
