Question:

Does the ISS, any satellites, or spaceshuttles ever cast shadows on the earth?

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If so, how large can those shadows become?

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  1. occasionally they transit the sun (see link), but they're not big enough to make a shadow.


  2. Due to the scattering of light in the atmosphere, the shadows of small objects like satellites, shuttles, and the ISS are completely obscured in the scattered light.  You'll never see the shadow of these objects on the ground unless they're close to the ground.

  3. In order to cast a shadow, or at least a complete one, an object must totally block the light from the sun.  So it must appear to be as large as the sun from the viewpoint of the observer, such as the moon does, in order to block the sun completely.  A satellite in orbit is too tiny and too far away to do that.

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