Debra Staten, age 12, of Arkansas City, Kansas, for her question:

How much farther is Venus from us than the moon?

On the evening of February 20, Venus and the baby New Moon looked as though they were headed for a collision. But after an hour or so, the moon had safely passed the golden planet and the two were moving apart. Heavenly bodies are always on the move, changing their positions from moment to moment. Each one moves independently, which means that from moment to moment their positions change in relation to each other. Sometimes Venus comes within 26 million miles of the earth and at other times the two are separated by 160 million miles.

The moon, of course, orbits around and around the earth and together the two of them orbit the sun. Our planet and its satellite are separated by an average distance of about 240,000 miles. The distance varies somewhat but the two are never more than 253,000 miles apart. Hence the distance between them and Venus remains roughly the same. In the sky, the moon and Venus may look close enough to collide  ¬but Venus is always at least 25 3/4 million miles farther away and sometimes more than 160 million miles.