Earth Shadow Setting from the Air


I didn't have much choice of window seats on this flight so the wing dominated the view, but at least I was on the opposite side to the sun on a south to north flight. That allowed me to watch the earth shadow setting from above much of the denser part of the atmosphere where a lot of scattering occurs. The images were taken a few minutes apart and are in sequence down the left side then up the right.


In frame 1 the sky above is starting to lighten, while the lower part of the shadow is obscured by scatter from the lower atmosphere, leaving a dark gap in the middle. By frame 3 the dusky colour of the Belt of Venus is starting to show and is well established by frame 4. In frame 5 the shadow of a distant storm reaches into the belt, the thin faint streak left of it is probably the plane's contrail shadow. By frame 6 the air below is starting to turn pink and by frame 7 much of the Belt of Venus is below the aircraft. After that there wasn't much to see once the sun was fully up, when most people had finished their breakfast and opened their window shutters for the first time...


Canon EOS 5D   16th March 2013
Over Southern France

Other Glows Topics