Earth's shadow
![Earth's shadow and Belt of Venus at sunrise, seen over a horizon where the sea meets the sky, looking west from Twin Peaks, San Francisco. Note: the lowest blue-grey area is not the sky but the surface of the Pacific Ocean.](/Images/godic/202501/07/Earth's_shadow_and_Belt_of_Venus1015.jpg")
![Earth's shadow and Belt of Venus at sunset, looking east from the Marin Headlands just north of San Francisco in October 2010. (Note: there is a thin greyish cloud layer partially obscuring the horizon in this image.)](/Images/godic/202501/07/Golden_Gate_Bridge,_the_Belt_of_Venus_and_the_Eart's_shadow1015.jpg")
![Full moon rising, as seen through the Belt of Venus. A very small part of the Earth's shadow (dark blue) is also visible in this image, but the horizon here is too high for more of the Earth's shadow to be seen.](/Images/godic/202501/07/Moon_and_red_blue_haze1015.jpg")
![A total lunar eclipse on February 21, 2008, shows the reddish light falling on the moon's surface.](/Images/godic/202501/07/February_2008_total_lunar_eclipse_John_Buonomo1015.jpg")
The Earth's shadow or Earth shadow (also sometimes known as the dark segment) are names for the shadow that the Earth itself casts on its atmosphere. This shadow is often visible from the surface of the Earth, as a dark band in the sky near the horizon. This atmospheric phenomenon can sometimes be seen twice a day, around the times of sunset and sunrise.