OK, if somebody can find its proper name, I will drop my claim!
I noticed many years ago that when observing Venus, the resolving power of the eyepiece/
aperture combination affected the phase which Venus appears. I've also noticed the same happens photographically and with Mercury.
It has a rational explanation and if you see widefield shots of Venus or use just your eyes, it appears like a disc. A larger telescope or camera
aperture has better resolving power and shows the phase more accurately. For a few months, Venus has been close enough to us to show Venus move from a full disc to gibbous to half-phase to crescent. However, my recent photo with my
DSLR at 300mm focal length suggests a larger phase.
https://sungazer127mak.blogspot.com/202 ... -2020.html
