Can Venus cast a shadow? With Aug. 12's total solar eclipse — where the moon's dark silhouette is everything — now behind us, it's a good time to test another kind of celestial shadow.
Astronomical folklore has it that the second rock from the sun, Venus, is, after the sun and moon, the third object able to cast a shadow when it's near peak brightness, albeit extremely faint, according to EarthSky.
Is it true? Not in a city, where skylights glow and porch lights blaze, where shadows are mostly thrown by passing cars that appear to become the brightest object in the solar system briefly. Venus does cast a shadow, but the sky must be very dark, transparent and free of any light — apparently.
Timing is everything. Having reached dichotomy — its half-lit phase — on Aug. 12, Venus is currently 49%-lit and waning as it moves closer to Earth, increasing in angular size as it bec...
English (US)