Astro Fact
Hi friends, Have you ever given a thought to this question: Why does sun look reddish or orange during sunrise or sunset? If you know the reason, good, if you don't, then let me explain.
The orange or red colours that the Sun and Moon sometimes show are caused by the particles present in the Earth's atmosphere.
Well, first of all, let me tell you light acts both as a wave and particle. Light is made up of particles called photons. It's a common experience that whenever anything strikes any other object, one or both of them are scattered. Same happens with photons when they enter Earth's atmosphere. Now, photons which have shorter wavelength are scattered more by particles present in Earth's atmosphere. Bluer photons have shorter wavelength so they are scattered more. As a result, redder photons pass straight through the atmosphere and reach our eyes giving impression of Sun being red. Because, the bluer photons are scattered all over the Earth's atmosphere, the sky looks blue.
Now another question arises, why does it happen during sunrise or sunset only. This happens during sunrise or sunset because that is the time, when the light of Sun passes more through the Earth's atmosphere. During this time, maximum no. of bluer photons are scattered, which makes the object look redder. It can be simply understood as: when you take out water from a bucket, the bucket looks empty. Thus it turns out that, the Sun looks tends to look orange or red when it is rising or setting because that is the time when light has to travel through most of the atmosphere to get to your eyes. The effect is exacerbated when there are thin clouds in front or beside the Sun. The clouds themselves often glow bright pink as well, because they are good at scattering blue light.
The orange or red colours that the Sun and Moon sometimes show are caused by the particles present in the Earth's atmosphere.
Well, first of all, let me tell you light acts both as a wave and particle. Light is made up of particles called photons. It's a common experience that whenever anything strikes any other object, one or both of them are scattered. Same happens with photons when they enter Earth's atmosphere. Now, photons which have shorter wavelength are scattered more by particles present in Earth's atmosphere. Bluer photons have shorter wavelength so they are scattered more. As a result, redder photons pass straight through the atmosphere and reach our eyes giving impression of Sun being red. Because, the bluer photons are scattered all over the Earth's atmosphere, the sky looks blue.
Now another question arises, why does it happen during sunrise or sunset only. This happens during sunrise or sunset because that is the time, when the light of Sun passes more through the Earth's atmosphere. During this time, maximum no. of bluer photons are scattered, which makes the object look redder. It can be simply understood as: when you take out water from a bucket, the bucket looks empty. Thus it turns out that, the Sun looks tends to look orange or red when it is rising or setting because that is the time when light has to travel through most of the atmosphere to get to your eyes. The effect is exacerbated when there are thin clouds in front or beside the Sun. The clouds themselves often glow bright pink as well, because they are good at scattering blue light.
