How come we dont see shadows of satellites on the ground when there's a clear sky?

Question

It may sound stupid but it's just a random thought

Answer 1

They do not make a shadow at all. The sun is a huge object, and every point on the sun is spreading out light in every direction.

If you made a straight line from you on the earth, to the satellite, to the sun, it would make sense that the light from that point on the sun would be blocked, and it would be. However, there are almost an infinite number of points on the sun that would not be blocked by the satellite.

Technically, there is some light blocked by satellites, however, its is such a small amount, and the satellite is so small, and the sun so big and so close, that it does not cast a shadow.

Answer 2

You *would* see a shadow on a direct line between the sun and the satellite; but even the largest satellite is just a dot as seen from the surface of the earth, whereas the sun is a definite disk. In other words, the satellite does not cover up a large enough portion of the sun to make much of a shadow. And even on a clear day, the atmosphere diffuses sunlight enough to thoroughly wash out what little shadow is cast.

On a sunny day, go outside and observe the shadow of your finger against a wall or the ground. When your finger is fairly close to the surface, there is a fairly sharp shadow; but as you move your finger away, the shadow quickly dissipates .

Answer 3

each part of the sun sends ligth into all directions, if ligth isnt touching an object you get a shadow, if you dont see a shadow it means that ligth is touching that place where the shadow should be. if you cant see the shadow means that the sun is so wide that the edges of it can send ligth to every place under the satellite.

Answer 4

sattelites rarely strand between the sun and earth, when they do, surrounding light masks the shadow because it is extremly small. also, the shadow is in the ocean half the time so it is rare for you to see a sattelite's shadow. the only way to see one is to stare directly at the sun, probably with a telescope but hey, what type of idiot would do that?

Answer 5

light refraction from the earths atmospere prevens ashadow of somthing so small apparrently shadows can stretch for about 8 miles before the light waves will wrap round it & thats for somthing double decker size
the only shadows from space to make planet fall are the moon (eclipse)
& venus`s once every so often.

Answer 6

If it did cast a shadow on the ground, it would be small and going so fast that you couldn't see it. If you did see it, it would be just a quick blink and you wouldn't even notice it.

Answer 7

Man made satellites are far too small.

Earth's satellite the moon does cast a shadow.

Answer 8

They are too small for the shadow to fall on the earth.

You can see a shadow from the moon occasionally. As you probably know, its called an Eclipse.

Answer 9

they probably make a shadow the size of a bean, and the shadow is probably over the sea most of the time

Answer 10

Do the trigonometry calculations, you might have seen the shadow but you wouldn't notice.