How to Track the Planet Venus

Check a current planetarium chart that shows the sun's ecliptic path as it relates to your geographic location and date. The ecliptic represents the path or plane of the sun as the Earth revolves around it. The sun will be highest in the ecliptic during the summer solstice and lowest in the winter solstice.

Check the planetarium chart to see whether Venus is at "elongation," which is the furthest away from the sun as viewed from Earth. If Venus appears in the evening sky, that means it is at its eastern elongation. If it appears in the morning, that indicates a western elongation.

Spot Venus either about 20 minutes after sunset or 20 minutes before sunrise. It cannot be seen until it is 5 degrees distant from the sun, but it will be the brightest object in the sky when it appears.

Set up a telescope that has a mount capable of running a clock drive. Orientate the telescope mount legs according to your instruction pamphlet. Turn on the telescope clock drive, which will keep the planet in view without having to adjust the telescope. Look through the finder scope and adjust Venus into the cross hairs, or center it in the finder. Check your main telescope eyepiece to confirm you have the planet in sight. Insert the eyepiece magnification you wish to use. Use a masking filter to eliminate most of the planet's glare.

Lock the telescope controls once you have the planet in sight. You will have about 2 hours and 45 minutes to track the planet before it becomes lost in the sun's glare. Notice which phase you have caught the planet in. Venus undergoes phases just like the moon: thin crescent, quarter moon, half, three-quarters and full phases.

Find Venus the next day and lock the telescope on its position. Venus will not have changed much in its ecliptic plane, making it easy to spot. Observe and catalog any change in the phase. Spend the next days or weeks regularly tracking Venus. Make a chart showing the changes in its ecliptic plane.