Percival Lowell detail in mid-1896 soon after the Alvan Clark & Sons refracting telescope was installed at his new Flagstaff, Arizona observatory. Lowell observed the planet high in the daytime sky with the telescope's lens stopped down to 3 inches in diameter to reduce the effect of the turbulent daytime atmosphere. Lowell observed spoke-like surface features including a central dark spot, contrary to what was suspected then (and known now): that Venus has no surface features visible from Earth, being covered in an atmosphere that is opaque. It has been noted in a 2003 "Journal for the History of Astronomy" paper and
Michigan State University Observatory Michigan State University Observatory Michigan State University Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Michigan State University. It is located south of the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan (USA), near the corner of Forest Rd and College Rd. It has a Cassegrain telescope in its single dome. Built by Boller and Chivens, the Michigan State University telescope was commissioned in 1969 and entered regular operation in 1970. In 1974, what was at the time a state-of-the-art Raytheon Microcomputer was installed to function as a data gathering and control system. Originally, single channel photoelectric photometry and