Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... Credit: David Cortner Explanation: Venus still rules the western skies after sunset as the brilliant evening star. ... In this picture though, recorded on the evening of April 3rd, brilliant Venus closes with the Seven Sisters and overwhelms the light from the delicate cosmic clouds. The view offers a study in contrasts as Venus appears about 700 times brighter than Alcyone, the Pleiades brightest star . ... Publications with keywords: Venus - pleiades - sky . ...