By Sunil Kumar
This week, step outside any night about an hour after sunset and you will get to see the brilliant planet Venus at the western sky. And if you look a little more closely and you’ll see that the planet is surrounded by bright stars.
The solar system’s two innermost planets, Mercury and Venus, go through a series of phases similar to the moon, as they are lit from the side at different angles by the sun. Their apparent diameter also changes as they move from the far side.