Venus has emerged from the glare of the sun and can now be seen above the west-southwestern horizon after sunset.

Our sister planet undergoes a 548-day cycle from an "evening star" to "morning star" and back to evening again. After being visible for nine months in the morning sky, stargazers can now view Venus in the evening sky for the next nine months before it returns to the neighborhood of the sun and emerges in the morning sky in November.

This week, look for Venus close to west-southwestern horizon immediately after sunset. Even though Venus is a dazzling bright -4 magnitude, you will need binoculars to help you find the planet in the bright evening twilight.

Venus will be about 8 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter tonight. By next week, as Jupiter sinks closer to the horizon, the pair will come together for a stunning evening conjunction. Look for the bright duo of planets within one degree of each other on Feb.16.

That's Fascinating, where Mark Roth spotlights the odd and the interesting in everyday life, is featured exclusively in the Opinion section on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.