Venus, the Evening Star

Is that a plane landing in the western sky, just after sunset? No, it's Venus at its greatest eastern elongation (farthest from the Sun and less washed out.) Did you know that Venus has phases, like the Moon? In binoculars you can often see its crescent shape. But you’ll never see a truly “full” Venus: that happens when the planet is on the far side of the Sun, lost in its glare.