Posts Tagged: earth’s shadow

Uncategorized — No Comments
18
Apr 10

Casting a Long Shadow

The blue shadow of Mt. Evans is projected into the sky by the rising sun.

When conditions are just right, you can see more than just fuzzy pink to blue-gray line demarcating the earth’s shadow (see How Big Can A Shadow Be?, April 13, 2010). You need dry, clear air, a tall mountain peak with a lower elevation, clear horizon. This combination of conditions does exist in many places. One of the best places is along Colorado’s Front Range. In this particular photo just west of Denver, the mountain peak is 14,264-ft high Mt. Evans.  Twenty five crow-flying-miles directly to the east, the Great Plains wash up against the base of the Front Range at an elevation of less than 6,000 feet.

When the rising sun breaks the much lower eastern horizon, the curvature of the earth actually allows the sun to hit the peak before it hits the lower elevations to the east. The result is that the shadow of Mt. Evans is projected in to the western sky, while Denver, 25 miles to the east on the low-lying plains is still in darkness.

And if you look really, really close, and squint your eyes just right, you might even see my shadow on top Mt. Evans’ shadow way out there in the western sky.

Enjoy

Frank

Great Places / Photo Tips — 1 Comment
13
Apr 10

How big can a shadow be?

This is one of my favorite examples of the earth's shadow taken at a very dramatic location, Grand Teton National Park.

There’s an interesting phenomenon that most of us have seen, but probably didn’t realize what we were looking at. It happens right before sunrise (for the early birds) and right after sunset (for normal people). A band of pink, transitioning quickly into blue, appears above the opposite horizon. It can be very intense, but usually is fairly subtle. This transition from pink to blue is actually the edge of the earth’s shadow be projected through the atmosphere. The blue is in shadow while the pink is in sunlight.

The earth’s shadow is best seen when the skies are clear. Typically, photographers find clear sky sunrises and sunsets to be rather dull. Clouds make the sky much more interesting. In the arid west, clear skies are more the norm than the exception. So this earth’s shadow is one way to add a little drama to an otherwise uninspiring clear-sky sunrise/set.

Keep an eye out for the earth’s shadow the next time you watch a sunset—and impress your friends with a little natural trivia.

Next time I’ll show you an smaller, albeit unusual, shadow of the earth.

Enjoy

Frank