Since you are an avid, well-equipped 'amateur astronomer'.
you might like to know that a fellow European amateur astronomer,
using a 35-centimeter mirror telescope observed the surface
of Venus [the night side of Venus] using near-infrared wavelengths.
He allowed the dayside of Venus to become deliberately overexposed
in his CCD near-infrared image, allowing the faint infrared emissions from the surface of Venus on the nightside to be "imaged".
WOW!

If you're fellow amateurs in Antwerp got together and invested in
a 35 centimeter mirror telescope....
Why...you could monitor the nightside of Venus for active vulcanism,
or asteroid impact [unlikely, but not impossible].

Jacob

"Extraordinary claims, require extraordinary evidence."
CARL SAGAN