Venus is currently visible in the evening sky and is drawing closer to Earth, revealing phases that are not visible to the naked eye. This week, its disk will dim from 36% to 32% lit as it shrinks toward a thinner crescent as September progresses. At the same time, its apparent size is increasing because Venus is moving closer to Earth. This combination of a smaller lit portion and a larger apparent size makes it a fascinating target for observation, even though it appears dimmer than it might seem. Venus reached its greatest eastern elongation, about 46 degrees from the sun, on August 15. It is now moving along the inside of its orbit around the sun, heading toward an inferior conjunction on October 24, when it will pass roughly between Earth and the sun and become too close to the sun to be seen. Before that, Venus will reach its peak brightness in the evening sky on September 18, shining at magnitude -4.8 while only 26% of its surface is illuminated. This is the sweet spot where its increasing angular size and decreasing crescent combine to make it the brightest from Earth, even though its actual visual brightness peaks a few days later, around September 22. After that, it becomes an increasingly dim crescent. Seeing Venus as a crescent makes the planet's position in its orbit clearly visible. We are no longer looking at the brightly illuminated side of Venus from across the solar system. Instead, we are increasingly viewing it from behind, looking toward its night side, with sunlight catching only one edge. This is similar to seeing a crescent moon, but Venus is a distant world tens of millions of miles away. At its closest approach, on October 24, it will be about 25 million miles (40 million kilometers) from Earth. At its farthest, Venus can be as far as 162 million miles (261 million kilometers) from Earth. Venus remains an evening object throughout September, but it is becoming more challenging to see from mid-northern latitudes. It will appear very low in the west-southwest shortly after sunset, where its brilliance should make it easily visible, as nothing else in the twilight sky comes close to its brightness. It is important to avoid using telescopes or binoculars to search for Venus while the sun is still above the horizon. Wait until the sun has fully set and ensure that the sky is dark before using optical equipment near the western horizon. Saturn continues to brighten in the eastern sky after dark. With the moon now past its last quarter phase, the early evening sky is free of bright moonlight, offering an excellent opportunity to observe the Milky Way, star clusters, and other deep-sky objects before autumn sets in. Before dawn, the waning crescent moon moves through the constellation Taurus, passing close to Mars in Gemini. Meanwhile, brilliant Venus continues to dominate the western twilight after sunset, shining low above the west shortly after sunset. Saturn, on the other hand, continues to brighten in the east during the late evening, making it an increasingly good time to observe the ringed planet with binoculars or a small telescope. The constellation Pisces, known as "The Fishes," is now visible in the southern sky after dark. Its faint stars form two celestial fish connected by a long cord, creating a broad V-shape beneath the easy-to-find Great Square of Pegasus in the eastern evening sky. This week is a great time to locate Pisces because Neptune, the distant planet, will soon reach opposition within the constellation, making it brighter than at any other time this year. Although Neptune requires binoculars or a telescope to be seen, learning to identify Pisces marks the beginning of the autumn constellations taking over the night sky.