Earth's shadow

Earth's shadow (or Earth shadow) is the shadow that Earth itself casts through its atmosphere and into outer space, toward the antisolar point. During the twilight period (both early dusk and late dawn), the shadow's visible fringe – sometimes called the dark segment or twilight wedge – appears as a dark and diffuse band just above the horizon, most distinct when the sky is clear.

This article is about the shadow the Earth casts on its atmosphere as viewed from the Earth. For information about how it (or any other shadow) extends in space, see Umbra.

Since Earth's diameter is 3.7 times the Moon's, the length of the planet's umbra is correspondingly 3.7 times that of the lunar umbra: roughly 1,400,000 km (870,000 mi).

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