We have a sighting of Venus’ Atmospheric Discontinuity in an IR (820-920 nm) observation of Venus taken by ALPO member Luigi Morrone captured on July 17^th. As seen in his image below, the atmospheric rift appears as a “gouge” in the cloud deck.

 This is a wonderful example of how amateur observers can continue to contribute to scientific investigation of our Solar System. As noted in an article in Sky & Telescope, “The quality and precision of the instrumentation available to amateur astronomers has improved markedly in recent years. They are now able to make really important contributions to the study of planetary bodies in our solar system that seriously complement what the professionals can do.”

We encourage all Venus section members to try to image the planet in IR to see if they can record the presence of this enigma in the planet’s atmosphere. All observations, whether including the discontinuity or not, should be sent to the section coordinator at venus@alpo-astronomy.org . Please follow the guidelines when submitting images.

Congratulations Luigi, job well done!