View the Thin Crescent of Venus

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https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/spot-venuss-creeping-cusps-at-solar-conjunction

By Bob King, Sky & Telescope. 

Excerpt: With Venus approaching inferior conjunction in August, here’s a foolproof way to follow its thinning crescent as the planet transitions from Evening Star to Morning Star. ...Venus currently shines about 25° east of the Sun and sets about 45 minutes after sundown. On August 13th the two bodies will be in conjunction and rise and set together. For about a week before and after that date, Venus will be difficult-to-impossible to see with the naked eye because of interference from solar glare but remain visible in a telescope if you know exactly where to look. The orbit of Venus is tipped 3.4° relative to the plane of the ecliptic [Earth's orbit plane]. At inferior conjunction, when the two planets are closest, Venus can pass up to 8.4° north or south of the Sun. If Venus lies at or close to either one of its nodes — the two points where it intersects the plane of Earth's orbit — we'll see it transit across the Sun's face. That last happened in June 2012 and will happen again in December 2117. During the present apparition, Venus will pass 7.7° south of the Sun's center, close to its maximum distance, making it possible to safely follow the planet up to and beyond solar conjunction. This only happens occasionally. For instance, during the June 2020 conjunction, Venus sat just 0.5° north of the Sun — much too close to safely view. At its last conjunction in January 2022, the Sun and planet were less than 5° apart.... 

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