• A collage of the phases of Venus visible from Earth.
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    These images of Venus were taken between July 11, 2010 and January 6, 2011. All of the images were taken in the daytime, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Venus goes through phases, much like the Moon. Since Venus travels around the Sun faster than the Earth does, we can see different portions of Venus' daytime side at different times. When Venus makes a close approach to the Earth, such as it did near October 21, 2010, we can only see a small sliver of Venus' daytime side. 

  • A collage of the phases of Venus visible from Earth.

Photographer:

Erin Braswell

ID#:

WEB11736-2011

Source:

Smithsonian Public Observatory Project

Copyright:

Smithsonian Institution

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