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Actually since both the earth and the moon are small compared to the sun and
Ken Fox is probably right about what Hewitt is trying to say. But I
don't get the point. And besides, it is not literally true. If the
earth were the same size as the sun, then the earth's shadow would not
taper at all. If the earth were the same size as the moon, then the
earth's shadow would be just like the moon's shadow and would taper by
one moon diameter over the earth-moon distance. In reality, the size of
the earth is between the size of the sun and the moon, so the earth's
shadow doesn't have zero taper, but it doesn't taper as fast as the
moon's either. Therefore it does not shrink by as much as a lunar
diameter over the earth-moon distance.