BEHIND THE SCENE

Have you ever wondered why the sky turns into magnificent delicate colours at sunset and sunrise?

Sunlight is white because it contains all frequencies of visible light. Sunlight is also filtered by the air in the atmosphere.

Light goes through different thicknesses of atmosphere and air particles, depending on the position of the sun, which in turn changes the sky’s colour from blue (shorter light waves) to yellow, pink, orange, red and purple (longer waves).

This phenomenon is called atmospheric scattering. Basically, at sunset and sunrise, the light has to go through more air, because of the low horizon of the sun. More atmosphere means more molecules that scatter the blue and violet away from your eyes, leaving only the other longer wave colours.