Venus reaches peak brightness Friday—your last chance until 2028

Each generation inherits the same sky, yet certain moments within it arrive only rarely — and this week, Venus offers one such moment. On Friday evening, the planet reaches its greatest elongation, the precise geometric alignment that makes it shine at peak brilliance in the western sky after sunset, visible to the naked eye without any instrument or expertise. It is a window that will not open again until 2028, and it arrives, fittingly, alongside the autumn equinox — that ancient threshold when the balance of light and darkness shifts, and the evening sky deepens a little earlier each night.