ALMOST every one knows Venus, the beautiful Evening Star, which is also, by the way, an equally beautiful Morning Star. In ancient times the Greeks believed these to be two different stars, calling the Morning Star "Phosphorus," the torchbearer who lights the way for the Dawn, and the Evening Star "Hesperus," leader of the stars of night. These names were translated into Latin as Lucifer and Vesper. The Morning Star was the son of Astræus and Aurora and the Evening Star a brother of the Titan Atlas. Pythagoras is said to have been the first to identify Hesperus with Phosphorus. "Now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest." --_Milton._ The dates that Venus may be seen are announced in the Almanac. Always look in the west after sunset for this lovely star, or in the east before sunrise, never in either case more than 48 degrees away from the sun. It follows the sun so closely that it is never seen more than four hours after sunset. "The Sun was sunk, and after him the Star of Hesperus, whose Office is to bring the Twilight upon the Earth." --_Milton._ Every 584 days Venus appears in the west as an evening star, first appearing about 20 minutes after sunset, near the horizon. [Figure 147: VENUS. Showing crescent phase. Photographed with the 40-inch refractor at the Yerkes Observatory.] After being visible but a short time, it disappears from view not far from the point where the sun went down. Every succeeding day this star appears at a higher elevation and glows brighter and brighter; this continues for several months until it appears like a great lamp, outshining every other object in the heavens, except the moon. It then begins to appear at a lower elevation each evening and to set a little earlier, until in the course of two or three weeks it disappears in the early twilight. About two weeks after her departure from the evening sky, Venus appears in the east shining brightly in the cool, gray hours just before Aurora opens the gates for the Sun-god. Day by day, the Morning Star increases in brilliance just as did the Evening Star until it appears at the highest point above the horizon; then its light gradually declines as each day its stay becomes shorter and shorter, until finally it pales in the morning light and is immersed in the rays of the sun. Venus passes through its period of greatest brilliance every eighth year. This last occurred in 1921 and will next occur in 1929. At such a time the planet is so bright that it may be seen in daylight, if one knows where to look for it.