A phenomenon in which the observed phase of Venus appears less than the predicted phase. As a result, dichotomy (half phase) occurs early at evening elongations, and late at morning elongations. The time difference between calculated and observed dichotomy is about a week. The effect was discovered by the German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter (1745–1816). The cause may be that the region near the terminator is darker than the rest of the illuminated disk.