Explanation:
Why does the shadow of this volcano look like a triangle?
The Mount Teide volcano itself does not have the strictly
pyramidal shape
that its geometric shadow might suggest.
The triangle shadow phenomena is not unique to the
Mt. Teide, though, and is
commonlyseen from the tops of other
large mountains and volcanoes.
A key reason for the strange dark shape is that the observer is looking down the long corridor of a sunset (or sunrise) shadow that extends to the horizon.
Even if the
huge volcano was a perfect
cube and the resulting shadow was a long rectangular box, that box would appear to taper off at its top as its
shadow extended far into the distance, just as parallel
train tracks do.
The above spectacular image shows
Pico Viejo crater in the foreground, located on
Tenerife in the
Canary Islands of
Spain.
The nearly full moon is seen nearby shortly after its
total lunar eclipse last month.
