Venus unfiltered 21/3/20

[mikeDnight]

Venus was initially in a very turbulent and fast moving jet stream and only hints of detail could be made out. Eventually though, the seeing steadied and features began to immediately reveal themselves. Things got even better as thin cloud started to cover the planet, and the features in the sketch repeatedly confirmed their relative positions. As usual, no filters were used in this observation other than the natural light cloud cover. The phase appeared to be crescent as the cusps extended as sharp points beyond the terminator,  yet the planet is still above 50%.  There was a bright region on the northern limb that at times appeared to leach out into space (a). Bleeding from the terminator shadow were several dark wisps of shadow that curled around the bright clouds along the terminator. Bright region (b) appeared to extend more deeply into the terminator than the others. The sketch shows mottlings across the daylit side which remained in their relative positions throughout.