MACON, Ga. — Viewer John Jones sent in a beautiful sunset photo and asked “What causes the sky to look red around sunset?”
Thanks for your question John!
It all has to do with the sun’s angle in the sky and molecule scattering.
Similar to how a crystal prism refracts a rainbow when you shine a flashlight on it, the molecules in the sky act the same way with light from the sun.
In the sky though, some of the light is absorbed in those particles.
The main colors that are not absorbed in the air molecules are red, orange, and yellow colors that have long wavelengths.
That’s because the sun’s rays have further to travel as the sun sets, compared to being overhead during the middle of the day.
In the weather world, we call this rayleigh scattering.
So now you know why the sky turns beautiful shades of red and orange at sunset!
And that's how your weather works!
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