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Since You Asked: Venus shines like a diamond into February Tuesday Jan 31, 2017 at 12:01 AM Any info on that amazingly bright celestial body I see in the sky each evening ever since the clouds parted? — Liz K., Medford   Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, Liz, it's the planet Venus, our closest planet, which is also known as the evening star or morning star depending on where it is as it revolves around the sun. Venus's deep cloud cover reflects a lot of light from the sun, so when it's visible from Earth, it shines brightly like a diamond in the night, according to the experts at Space.com. Venus, which can be as close as about 40 million miles from Earth, is at a particular point in its orbit around the sun that makes it appears brighter than normal from our vantage point on Earth. Throughout January, Venus is particularly bright and is visible in the western sky for up to four hours. Over the next few days, the moon will appear to transit in front of Venus, a spectacle that will leave stargazers in awe. If you look closely, you will see Mars, our next-closest planetary neighbor, sitting close to Venus, at least from our vantage point. According to Space.com, Venus will be 191 times brighter than Mars through most of January and into February. — Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. To see a collection of columns, go to mailtribune.com/youasked. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.