 When you or I have a light, like the sun shining on us, we cast a shadow. The public may have a few misunderstandings about shadows, like the idea that a shadow is just the visible shadow cast on the ground. They do not think of all the area between the ground and the object as a part of the shadow. My hand is in the shadow of Earth, here, and here, and here. Are my fingers on the day side or the night side of Earth? Sure, the night side. When can we see Earth's shadow? Every night we are standing in it, and almost every clear evening you can watch the Earth turn into its shadow. Place your hand on the globe with your fingers pointed west toward the sun, over your approximate location on the globe. Here we are in California. Tip the North Pole of the globe so it roughly pointed to where the North Star would be. Your hand represents the Earth's atmosphere. Turn the globe so the shadow of the globe starts rising onto your fingertips. Just as the sun sets, your visitors will start to see the shadow of Earth appear up against the atmosphere, just like they see the shadow of this globe up against your fingertips. Turn to the east, just after sunset, and you'll see a hazy, darker blue band appear above the eastern horizon. That's the shadow of Earth. Have your visitors hold their fingers parallel to the horizon and measure how thick the band is. Is it one, two, or three fingers thick? Check it again a few minutes later, and you'll see that the shadow has gotten higher. Use your hand again to measure it. Night doesn't fall, night rises. For more details on how to involve your visitors, take a look in the manual under the activity titled Standing in the Shadow of Earth.