Venus crescent phase about one month before or after inferior conjunction. Venus fades to about magnitude −3 when it is backlit by the Sun. The planet is bright enough to be seen in a clear midday sky and is more easily visible when the Sun is low on the horizon or setting. As an inferior planet, it always lies within about 47° of the Sun. Venus "overtakes" Earth every 584 days as it orbits the Sun. As it does so, it changes from the "Evening Star", visible after sunset, to the "Morning Star", visible before sunrise. Although Mercury, the other inferior
Stars and planetary systems in fiction Federation during the mid-23rd century). The primary was a Class F star. Magnitude of this star was +5, which was the same brightness as Sol. This was a Federation system, with at least one planet being an affiliate. Proxima Centauri, part of a triple star system with Alpha Centauri A and B, is the nearest-known star to the Solar System. Even though it is known to be a flare star, a disproportionate number of early fiction titles are dedicated to Proxima Centauri, as the destination of humanity's first interstellar voyage. A planet in Proxima Centauri's habitable zone was detected in