Earth's Shadow & Belt of Venus from Omu summit (2,507m) in the Southern Carpathians, Romania.
Alex Tudorica imaged this panorama (scroll!) during a watch for the 2008 August Perseid meteors. The dark blue band close to the horizon and opposite the sun is unlit air shadowed by the earth itself. The shadow is best seen shortly after sunset or before sunrise and is sharpest at high altitudes. The shadow rises as twilight progresses and becomes less and less distinct - But when there is stratospheric haze it can sometimes be followed across the sky to 'set' in the sunward direction. The rosy pink glow is the antitwilight arch or 'Belt of Venus', it is a combination backscattered sunlight reddened by the atmosphere and the deep blue of the anti-sunward sky. At top right the Moon rides high over the antitwilight arch. Image ©Alex Tudorica, shown with permission.
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