Say goodbye to the bright planet Venus, now low in the southwestern sky after sunset. Just about the only folks who can see it now are standing at Menemsha Beach a short time after sunset. The West Chop overlook is another nice place to give the planet a farewell.

In a week, Venus will be unobservable, too close to the glare of the setting sun to be seen. If you could grab a powerful telescope right now and look at the setting Venus, you’d see a planet that looks like our moon when it is in the crescent phase.

Astronomers estimate that by the end of October, Venus will be only 25 million miles away. No other planet in the solar system gets so close to us and can look so big.

Stay tuned. Venus will be back in sight. Later this fall Venus will be a morning star low in the southeastern sky. She’ll be easier to see around Thanksgiving as a brilliant bright planet in the dawn light.