Hello, all!

I'm sorry to ask what must seem like an incredibly stupid question, but I
very rarely ever get to use my telescope and therefore have little
proficiency and less knowledge.

I am just east of Phoenix, Arizona. This morning at 4:00 AM I looked out my
door and saw what I assumed to be Venus in the east-northeast (since
confirmed on various space websites). It was absolutely brilliant and I
immediately threw on some clothes and grabbed the telescope. Imagine my
surprise when I put eye to lens and saw what appeared to be a perfect
eclipse in progress; Venus was just a shimmering crescent. I know that
Venus has no moons. The only pictures I can find of Venus are satellite
photos and none of them look anything like what I saw. I can find no
information on why it should have looked like that. Does it normally look
like that? I know that I have seen Venus before (many years ago), but I do
not remember it looking like a crescent. Is there an explanation?

Thank you very much and, again, please overlook my abject ignorance.

Mara