Here’s a lovely photo of the Earth’s shadow, which can be seen any clear evening ascending in the eastern sky at the same rate that the sun sets below the western horizon. The shadow is a deep blue-grey – darker than the blue of the twilight sky.
The pink band above the shadow is called the Belt of Venus.
The shadow of the Earth is big. You might have to turn your head to see the whole thing. And the shadow is curved, in just the same way that the whole Earth is curved. Earth’s shadow extends hundreds of thousands of miles into space, so far that it can touch the moon. Whenever that happens, there’s an eclipse of the moon.
Check out Earth’s shadow – in the east at sunset – next time you have a clear sky. I often see it while out on the streets of my town as the sun is setting.
By the way, this image shows more or less the same moon phase that you’ll see tonight. It’ll be a waxing gibbous moon that’ll be visible in the east after sunset this evening. In the Americas, the full moon and a partial lunar eclipse of the will occur in the wee hours before sunrise on Monday, June 4. In eastern Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, full moon and the partial eclipse will happen sometime after sunset on June 4.
This image is the full moon at the Woomera missile range in Australia. Used with permission.
