• Question: Do planets have shadows, or can they shadow off other planets?

    Asked by wizzyg12 to Claire, Matt, Sam on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Yes! An eclipse is when we go into the Moon’s shadow, or when the Moon hours into the Earth’s shadow. But planets are too far apart to cast shadows on each other.

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Absolutely! A shadow is just something blocking rays of light, so all the planets cast a shadow behind them for some distance.

      In fact this is kind of one of the ways that people detect planets around other stars! They look at the brightness of the star normally, and then they see if the brightness dips slightly at regular intervals. If it does it could mean that a planet is moving in front of the star, blocking its light from us!

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