Artist concept of lightning on Venus. Credit: NASAVenus has reentered our sky in its part-time job as the Evening Star, appearing as a uniquely brilliant white beacon over the western horizon after sunset.
With all the attention that the exploration of certain other planets has received lately, I feel that Venus exploration has fallen off our radar a bit, and that it is high time for an update.
There is no lack of exploration of Venus today: NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, bound for Mercury, flew by Venus twice (2006, 2007), making observations on the fly; Japan is currently planning to send a climate orbiter mission ("Planet C") there in 2010; and the European BepiColombo will perform a couple of Venus flybys of its own, in 2013, on its way to Mercury.
Most notably, the European Venus Express orbiter is in the middle of a two-year mission of exploration, and has revealed new and fascinating things about Venus--a planet whose cloud-shrouded surface kept us mostly ignorant about it until recent decades. (Before the 1960's it was even speculated that Venus might be a steamy swamp or rain forest world!)
Here's a quick recap of some of the highlights of Venus Express's findings: