Brilliant Venus in west at nightfall. Venus – brightest of all planets, and third-brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon – climbs higher up at dusk and nightfall, and stays out later after dark, throughout March 2015. It beams as brilliantly as a lighthouse as darkness falls this month! Be sure to catch Venus at dusk and early evening, especially from temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, because it’ll follow the sun beneath the horizon by early evening. At mid-northern latitudes, Venus stays out longer after dark but still sets by mid-evening.