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A colorful sky is often due to indirect sunlight being scattered off air molecules and particulates, like smog, soot, and cloud droplets, as shown in this photo of a sunset during the October 2007 California wildfires. Atmospheric optics is "the study of the optical characteristics of the atmosphere or products of atmospheric processes ....
Diagram showing displacement of the Sun's image at sunrise and sunset Comparison of inferior and superior mirages due to differing air refractive indices, n. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. [1]
In this band, degrees of polarization near 80% are typically reached. Degree of polarization in the Rayleigh sky at sunset or sunrise. The zenith is at the center of the graph. When the Sun is located at the zenith, the band of maximal polarization wraps around the horizon. Light from the sky is polarized horizontally along the horizon.
Scattering effects also partially polarize light from the sky and are most pronounced at an angle 90° from the Sun. Scattered light from the horizon travels through as much as 38 times the air mass as does light from the zenith, causing a blue gradient looking vivid at the zenith and pale near the horizon. [9]
Sky brightness refers to the visual perception of the sky and how it scatters and diffuses light. The fact that the sky is not completely dark at night is easily visible. If light sources (e.g. the Moon and light pollution ) were removed from the night sky , only direct starlight would be visible.
Sky-gazers on the east coast of North America may see up to 25 meteors streaking across the skies, while those on the west coast could see double that amount due to a later sunrise, Lunsford said.
The duo will appear high in the southwestern sky after nightfall and will gradually slip down toward the horizon before setting around 9 p.m., local time. An encore will be visible the following ...
This is why the sky looks blue; you are seeing scattered blue light. This is also why sunsets are red. Because the Sun is close to the horizon, the Sun's rays pass through more atmosphere than normal before reaching your eye. Much of the blue light has been scattered out, leaving the red light in a sunset.