144. In the same Figure, let _FGHIKLMN_ be the Orbit in which Venus _v_
moves round the Sun _S_, according to the order of the letters: and let
_E_ be the Earth as before. When Venus is at _F_ she is in her inferiour
Conjunction; and disappears like the New Moon because her dark side is
toward the Earth. At _G_ she appears half enlightened to the Earth, like
the Moon in her first quarter: at _h_ she appears gibbous; at _I_,
almost full; her enlightened side being then nearly towards the Earth:
at _K_, she would appear quite full to the Earth _E_; but is hid from it
by the Sun _S_: at _L_, she appears upon the decrease, or gibbous; at
_M_, more so; at _N_, only half enlightened; and at _F_ she disappears
again. In moving from _N_ to _G_, she seems to go backward in the
Heavens; and from _G_ to _N_, forward: but, as she describes a much
greater portion of her Orbit in going from _G_ to _N_ than from _N_ to
_G_, she appears much longer direct than retrograde in her motion. At
_N_ and _G_ she appears stationary; as Mercury does at _n_ and _h_.
Mercury, when stationary seems to be only 28 degrees from the Sun; and
Venus when so, 47; which is a demonstration that Mercury’s Orbit is
included within Venus’s, and Venus’s within the Earth’s.
[Sidenote: Morning and Evening Star, what.]
145. Venus, from her superiour Conjunction at _K_ to her inferiour
Conjunction at _F_ is seen on the east side of the Sun _S_ from the
Earth. _E_; and therefore she shines in the Evening after the Sun sets,
and is called _the Evening Star_: for, the Sun being then to the
westward of Venus, he must set first. From her inferiour Conjunction to
her superiour, she appears on the west side of the Sun; and therefore
rises before him, for which reason she is called _the Morning Star_.
When she is about _N_ or _G_, she shines so bright, that bodies cast
shadows in the night-time.
[Sidenote: PLATE II.