Venus is just beginning a slow climb to prominence as the “evening star.” It’s quite low in the west at sunset and sets not long afterward, so it’s hard to spot. Tonight, it’s close to a slightly easier target – the crescent Moon. Even so, you need a clear horizon and good timing to see either one.

Venus and the Moon may have something in common: Both of them might have been involved in “big whacks” when the solar system was young.

There’s a pretty good chance that the young Earth was hit by a body as big as Mars. That blasted out a huge amount of material. Much of it coalesced to form one or more moons – including the one we see today.

It’s possible that Venus got a big whack as well. The impact made Venus spin in the opposite direction from most of the other planets in the solar system. As seen from above, Earth and most of the other planets rotate counterclockwise – the same direction in which they orbit the Sun. Venus also orbits counterclockwise, but it rotates clockwise.

When Venus was born, it probably spun in the same direction as the other planets. So something might have hit the young planet. The impact either flipped it upside down or caused it to reverse direction. The blast might also have created a moon. But unlike our moon, it didn’t survive.

Look for Venus and the Moon shortly after sunset, quite low in the west. The view is better as you go farther south.

Script by Damond Benningfield