APOD 1.8

Taken in the country of South Africa, this photo shows a detailed picture of our Milky Way, the long belt-like thing at the top of the picture. In this picture, you are also able to see one very bright star-like object in the middle of the sky. However, to many people's surprise, this is not a star, rather it is the planet Venus.

What makes Venus appear so bright, is not because it is emitting that light, but it is actually reflecting the light emitted from the Sun.

There is a term used to express how much light a planet is able to reflect which is the word "albedo". Venus is actually the planet in our solar system that has the highest albedo of up to 70 percent. In other words, the planet Venus absorbs 30 percent of the Sun's light and reflects 70 percent of it.

Some people might come to the conclusion that the reason why Venus is brighter than any other planet is due to the fact that it is the closet planet to Earth. Although it is true that Venus is the closest planet to Earth, what really makes it shine so bright are the clouds that surround the planet. So just like how it is so bright when you look at the snow on a sunny day, the clouds that surround Venus, which is composed of sulfuric acid and other acidic crystals, causes light to easily bounce off and reflect it. This is actually why sometimes the Moon may appear to be duller than Venus, because the Moon only has an albedo of 10 percent due to it's rocky surface and lack of clouds covering it. What makes the Moon appear to be bright is actually how close it is to Earth.

So the next time you look up in the sky, the brightest thing in the sky (which is not always the Moon) is most likely to be the planet Venus.