mike keating, age 13, of springfield, Pa., for his question:

What makes a planet become the evening star?

The word planet means wanderer, and the visible planets seem to wander to and fro over the sky against the background of fixed stars. Sometime a planet may appear in the same part of the sky as the sun. At such times, a planet rides over the daytime sky, but we do not see it because its pale light is out dazzled by the radiant sun.     Sometimes a planet travels a little behind the sun. After the sun sets, it is still some distance up in the sky. Now the bright rays of the sun are gone, and the planet shines in the dim, twilight sky. This is the time when a planet plays the role of the evening star.