@runthesimlab: If you draw a straight line between Earth and Venus every three days for eight years, all those lines draw a five-petal flower known as the Rose of Venus. It happens because eight Earth years are almost exactly thirteen Venus years, so the two planets end up nearly back where they started… There's a second pattern hiding in there too. Venus passes closest to Earth five times during those eight years, and if you join those five moments in order, they trace a five-pointed star.