Shadows Cast by Venus

Abstract

ON March 21 last, about 8 p.m., I was walking among some trees by a river's bank. The ground was covered with recently-fallen snow, and the shadows of the trees were unmistakably, though faintly, traceable on the white surface. The night was dark and the shadows were thrown by Venus, which was shining with unusual brilliancy. I believe this obvious form of the phenomenon is not a common one in our latitude.