Can Venus cast a shadow? Here’s how to see it for yourself

Tech news matters when it actually changes what people can do, not just what companies announce.

Reporting

Space.com reports that Can Venus cast a shadow? Here's how to see it for yourself. Can Venus cast a shadow? With Aug. 12's total solar eclipse — where the moon's dark silhouette is everything — now behind us, it's a good time to test another kind of celestial shadow. Astronomical folklore has it that the second rock from the sun, Venus , is, after the sun and moon, the third object able to cast a shadow when it's near peak brightness,… The key issue is what the mission or observation makes possible next: better data, stronger hardware, new experiments, or clearer science.

The Details

• Space.com: Can Venus cast a shadow? Here's how to see it for yourself
• Can Venus cast a shadow? With Aug. 12's total solar eclipse — where the moon's dark silhouette is everything — now behind us, it's a good time to test another kind of celestial shadow

The Context

Space updates can look routine from the outside: a launch, a docking, an instrument check, another mission note. Look closer, though, and they are usually about data, endurance, materials, communications, robotics, or the next piece of exploration infrastructure.

Next Developments

• scientific results from the mission
• follow-up research publications
• practical applications on Earth