In either of her roles, as morning or as evening star, Venus
has no rival. No fixed star can for an instant bear comparison with her.
What she lacks in vivacity of light--none of the planets twinkles, as do
all of the true stars--is more than compensated by the imposing size of
her gleaming disk and the striking beauty of her clear lamplike rays.
Her color is silvery or golden, according to the state of the
atmosphere, while the distinction of her appearance in a dark sky is so
great that no eye can resist its attraction, and I have known an
unexpected glimpse of Venus to put an end to an animated conversation
and distract, for a long time, the attention of a party of ladies and
gentlemen from the social occupation that had brought them together.
As a telescopic object Venus is exceedingly attractive, even when
considered merely from the point of view of simple beauty. Both Mercury
and Venus, as they travel about the sun, exhibit phases like those of
the moon, but Venus, being much larger and much nearer to the earth than
Mercury, shows her successive phases more effectively, and when she
shines as a thin crescent in the morning or evening twilight, only a
very slight magnifying power is required to show the sickle form of her
disk.
A remarkable difference between Venus and Mercury comes out as soon as
we examine the shape of the former's orbit. Venus's mean distance from
the sun is 67,200,000 miles, and her orbit is so nearly a circle, much
more nearly than that of any other planet, that in the course of a
revolution her distance from the sun varies less than a million miles.
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