Venus

Venus' adornment alongside the moon in the western sky this spring will soon be no longer. Wednesday will be the last time this year that the crescent moon and the yellow planet will pair up with each other this year. Look to the west at dusk tonight and Wednesday - if you look early enough with the naked eye or binoculars, you can make out Venus' crescent shape before it becomes too bright to discern. According to EarthSky.org , you should also be able to see earthshine, a faint glow on the dark portion of the moon, from light reflecting back from Earth toward the moon.

A twice-in-a-lifetime celestial event is coming up in June, and on Tuesday, the Space Telescope Science Institute is providing a chance to learn more about it ahead of time. A monthly public lecture will focus on the transit of Venus, in which the planet will pass directly in front of the sun. During a transit, planets can be seen as a small black dot moving across the face of the sun. Of course, as with eclipses and other solar phenomena, they should not be viewed directly. In North America, the transit will be visible at sunset June 5. Look for more coverage here as the event gets closer.

She was dragged, tossed, handcuffed, and, she says, repeatedly called a "bitch," according to news reports. In her own words, she was "brutally abused. " At the time of the incident, Venus Green was also 87 years old. Recently, at age 90, Mrs. Green received an out-of-court settlement for her troubles from Baltimore City for $95,000. The settlement for the indignity is not the point of this commentary; rather, it is the repetition of such indignities and violence on the bodies of people of African descent, and Africana women in particular — not just by people of other ethnic groups but also by members of our own communities.

It has been hard not to notice Venus and Jupiter twinkling in the western sky on all the pleasant, clear nights we've had. The view is about to get a little more spectacular. The crescent moon begins to peek out tonight, and over the next several nights will provide some drama in the sky alongside the bright planets. Look just above the western horizon at dusk to find them. Venus is the higher planet, and Jupiter the lower. If you have a decent backyard telescope, you should even be able to see Jupiter's four largest moons orbiting the gaseous giant.

Sky-watchers got a beautiful show last month, with the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter decorating the western horizon at nightfall. There is more ahead. Venus and Jupiter continue to grow closer to each other and more spectacular on the horizon. Look to the west after sunset tonight; by late next week, the planets will be 3 degrees apart, according to EarthSky.org. The waxing crescent moon will return to join them by the end of the month. Read more about the opportunities for stargazing this month in this post at EarthSky .

Take a haunted tour guided by 'Norman Bates' at Hitchcock after Dark , Saturday, Oct. 22, 8-10 p.m., Riverfront Park at end of Avondale Street. This fundraiser is presented by Venus Theatre, 21 C St. Tours also available Saturday, Oct. 29. Two nights only with four tours, half mile each, one starting at 8 p.m. and one at 9 p.m. each of the Saturdays. Enjoy s'mores, fall beverages, Hitchy costume contest and outdoor move, "The Birds!" Best Hitchcock costume wins door prize. Wear comfortable shoes and bring flashlight and movie watching blanket.

Venus Theatre, 21 C St., presents the world premiere of "The Stenographer" on Friday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. Written by Zoe Mavroudi, of Athens, Greece, and directed by Venus Theatre founder Deborah Randall, the drama, set in a suburban house in a college town near New York, presents an internal storm where integrity clashes with philosophical rationalizations, alcohol and literary analysis. Play runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through September.

NEW YORK — It wasn't the final point of the match, the winning forehand from Kim Clijsters that couldn't be chased down by a dispirited and slow-footed Venus Williams, that brought 23,000 people to their feet at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday. That was just about expected because second-seeded and defending champion Clijsters had gained such momentum from another shot, a luxurious lob that sailed just beyond the racket of Williams and skipped off the baseline as Williams waved her racket helplessly.

NEW YORK — It is a question that makes Venus Williams weary. Her eyes drop, her shoulders tighten. She is here at the U.S. Open — which begins Monday — a 30-year-old having won seven Grand Slams, and she does not want to talk about the starkness of this bit of information: Williams is the only American among the 32 women's seeds. Melanie Oudin, the bubbly teenager who giggled as she ran through the 2009 U.S. Open, shoving aside higher-rated, harder-hitting players with no evidence of nerves until she was halted in the quarterfinals by eventual runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, has won only a single match at the three majors this year.

WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams straightened out a very crooked women's Wimbledon quarterfinal Tuesday. It was only top-seeded and defending champion Serena's uncomplicated 7-5, 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Li Na that made sense. Tsvetana Pironkova, a Bulgarian ranked 82nd in the world, considered herself surprised to have eliminated second-seeded and five-time champion Venus Williams 6-2, 6-3. It was a thorough and unexpected beating and more surprising even than the exit of defending U.S. Open champion and eighth-seeded Kim Clijsters, who was put out by 21st-seeded Vera Zvonareva 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. In the fourth quarterfinal, Kaia Kanepi avoided becoming the first Estonian woman to make the semifinals by failing to convert any of five match points and losing 4-6, 7-6 (8)