Venus is the third-brightest natural object in Earth's sky, after the Sun and the Moon. Its brilliance makes it easy to spot with the naked eye, even though it is often mistaken for a star. Venus is frequently called the Morning Star or Evening Star because it appears near sunrise or sunset, depending on its position in orbit.
The planet shines so strongly because its thick cloud layers reflect a large amount of sunlight. Its closeness to Earth at some points in its orbit also helps it appear exceptionally bright. Venus never travels far from the Sun in our sky, so it is not normally visible high overhead at midnight.
Ancient observers sometimes treated the morning and evening appearances as two separate objects. Babylonian records, including the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, show that early astronomers eventually recognized them as the same planet. Venus is brighter than any other planet as seen from Earth, although its exact prominence changes with its phase and distance.