Imagine stepping out your front door and being swallowed up by the vast dark shadow of an entire planet. Actually, you've done it many times. The darkness you experience after sunset is the shadow of Earth itself. (Think about it.) If you happen to be outside right at sunset, you can sometimes catch Earth's shadow rising to extinquish the twilight. That's exactly what happened to Andrew Greenwood yesterday in England's Peak District National Park:

Image
© Andrew Greenwood
"I was climbing towards a hill known as Shining Tor when I broke through the fog into the most magical sunlit landscape," says Greenwood. "With the clouds below me, the air was crisp and ultra-transparent. It was at this point that I noticed Earth's shadow climbing into the ice-blue sky in the East. This spectacular vision is sometimes called the Belt of Venus. Its contrast against the snow-covered hills was breath-taking; I could not have wished for a more memorable end to what was in fact my 38th birthday!"

More images: from Börkur Hrólfsson of Gullfoss, Iceland.