Venus is coming toward the end of its evening apparition, which started on March 26 when it passed behind the Sun, and which will end on January 8, 2022 when it goes through inferior conjunction.  All summer and into the early autumn, Venus has been low in the west but finally in late October and especially in the last two months of the year, it will gain altitude and be visible well into dark skies after sunset for a month.  Here we see Venus shining at magnitude -4.39 just south of the star θ Ophiuchi.  Unannotated image