Earth's Shadow & Belt of Venus
Imaged 20th February by Tom Polakis (images) before sunrise
somewhere between Arizona and Michigan �Tom Polakis, shown with permission.

The dark blue-purple wedge above the horizon is the Earth’s shadow, dark air shielded from sunlight by the mass of the planet itself. Above the shadow is a glowing pink orange band, the anti-twilight arch, sometimes called the “Belt of Venus”. Its light is a mixture of the dark blues of the brightening twilit sky and highly reddened sunrise rays scattered backwards by air molecules. Look eastwards after sunset to see the wedge rising in the sky. It seems darker at high altitude but is a beautiful and easily seen sight at ground level.    

Earth's Shadow & Belt of Venus