ONLY a couple of days left until Christmas, and this year we have a beautiful 'Christmas Star' shining in the sky after sunset, dazzling us with its beauty as we dash around getting our last minute presents. The star is actually the planet Venus, currently on the side of its orbit around the Sun that makes it visible as the 'evening star' for us up here in the northern hemisphere.

You'll notice Venus as soon as twilight starts to darken the sky. It will look like a silvery glint in the south west, above the trees, like a tiny sequin. As the sky darkens Venus gets brighter and brighter until, by 5pm, it is a genuinely thrilling sight - a silvery white lantern shining in the sky, almost demanding you look at it. And as it will remain visible until almost 8pm this is a great time to see the planet often called Earth's Twin.

Venus is a world of intense heat and volcanic activity. Similar in structure and size to Earth, its thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway 'greenhouse effect.' The scorched world has temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Glimpses below the clouds reveal volcanoes and deformed mountains. Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets.

As you look at Venus you'll also spot a fainter star a short distance to its upper left - this is another planet, Mars. These two planets are slowly coming together in the evening sky, and by New Year will look like a beautiful double star after sunset.

Stuart Atkinson

Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal