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It passes behind the sun on the far side of its orbit—reaching superior conjunction—and then continues on until it’s as far east as it gets: the point of greatest eastern elongation.

The effervescent Venus reached superior conjunction Aug. 14 and will emerge from the sun’s glare later in September, low in the evening’s western sky.

By convention, it refers to the projected semi-major axis that corresponds to superior conjunction.

For their story, Cahill and Marling borrow from the idea of superior conjunction, positing that the planet was previously hidden behind the sun.

At superior conjunction it ought, being then farthest away, to show the smallest disc; while at inferior conjunction, being the nearest, it should look much larger.