Why is evening sky red

This is why a rising and setting Sun tends to take on spectacular hues of red, orange, and yellow. The quality of the air that sunlight has to pass through also has an effect on the color of sunrises and sunsets.

Dust particles and pollutants tend to tone down the colors in the sky as well as impede light from reaching the observer on the ground. Because of this, the sky takes on dull hues of red and yellow when the air is full of dust and pollutants. This is why sunrises and sunsets in rural areas, over the ocean, and deserts are much more vibrant and colorful than over cities and urban areas.

Tips: Take pictures of sunrises and sunsets. Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for giving the Moon a reddish or orange hue during lunar eclipses. The condition of the Earth's atmosphere, including the amount of pollution and dust from storms and volcanic eruptions, can affect the shade of red the Moon takes on during the eclipse.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. By Jaymi Heimbuch Jaymi Heimbuch. Jaymi Heimbuch is a writer and photographer specializing in wildlife conservation. Learn about our editorial process. Share Twitter Pinterest Email.

What to See in the Night Sky for November How Are Rainbows Formed? Overview and Ideal Conditions. What Are Geomagnetic Storms? How Do They Impact Earth? Space Weather Analysis. What to See in the Night Sky for August What Is a Harvest Moon? As the light waves bounce in lots of different directions, we say they have been scattered.

How light waves get scattered depends strongly on the size of the particle compared with the wavelength of the light. Particles that are small compared with the light wavelength scatter blue light more strongly than red light. Within the visible range of light, red light waves are scattered the least by atmospheric gas molecules. So at sunrise and sunset, when the sunlight travels a long path through the atmosphere to reach our eyes, the blue light has been mostly removed, leaving mostly red and yellow light remaining.

The result is that the sunlight takes on an orange or red cast, which we can see reflected from clouds or other objects as a colorful sunset or sunrise. Large particles of pollution or dust scatter light in a way that changes much less for different colors.

The result is that a dusty or polluted sky is usually more grayish white than blue. Similarly, cloud droplets typically 10 millionths to millionths of a meter are much larger than visible light waves, so they scatter light without much color variation. This is why light scattered by clouds takes on the same color as the incoming light.