Editing Venus (section)

=== Ashen light ===
[[File:Venus-ParkerSolarProbe-July2020.jpg|thumb|[[Nightglow]] is since 2022 considered the most likely candidate for the ashen light, visible as bright line along the limb of Venus in this visible light near-infrared image.<ref name="e367">{{cite web | last=Dobbins | first=Thomas A. | title=The Parker Solar Probe Captures Surprising Images of Venus Nightside | website=Sky & Telescope | date=2022-02-22 | url=https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/the-parker-solar-probe-captures-surprising-images-of-venus-nightside/ | access-date=2025-03-14}}</ref> The surface and its features, like the visible [[Ovda Regio]] plateau of [[Aphrodite Terra]] as the dark patch, is much less discernable by the human eye, though some people reporting ashen light might be seeing the surface due to higher sensitive in the spectrum that the surface glows.<ref name="n420">{{cite web | title=Nightside observations by the Parker Solar Probe: implications for the reality of the Ashen Light – British Astronomical Association | website=British Astronomical Association – Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890 | date=2024-05-21 | url=https://britastro.org/journal_contents_ite/nightside-observations-by-the-parker-solar-probe-implications-for-the-reality-of-the-ashen-light | access-date=2025-03-14}}</ref>]]

A long-standing mystery of Venus observations is the so-called [[ashen light]]—an apparent weak illumination of its dark side, seen when the planet is in the crescent phase. The first claimed observation of ashen light was made in 1643, but the existence of the illumination has never been reliably confirmed. Observers have speculated it may result from electrical activity in the Venusian atmosphere, but it could be illusory, resulting from the physiological effect of observing a bright, crescent-shaped object.<ref name=Baum_2000/><ref name="Russell, Philips" /> The ashen light has often been sighted when Venus is in the evening sky, when the evening terminator of the planet is towards Earth.