Seasons in the sky in South Patagonia Chile { 35 images } Created 2 Nov 2013
That atmosphere is made up of a mixture of gaseous molecules, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, with some water vapor and trace gases thrown in.
The light at the longest wavelengths—red, orange, and yellow—sails more easily over these atmospheric speed bumps, while the shorter blue and violet rays get bounced left and right as they journey towards us, in a process called "scattering."
At "solar noon," when the sun appears at its highest point in the daytime sky, light reaches us most directly, passing through less atmosphere on the way, reducing the scattering effect. When the spectrum remains together, the light we see is the familiar yellowish-white look of sunshine.
But as the Earth turns during the day and the sun drops toward the horizon, sunbeams enter the atmosphere at a slant and pass through a denser swath of air before they reach us. When the short rays at the violet and blue end of the spectrum are deflected out in all directions, while the orange and red wavelengths dominate our perception of the skies color.
The Patagonian weather, skys in south Chile.
The light at the longest wavelengths—red, orange, and yellow—sails more easily over these atmospheric speed bumps, while the shorter blue and violet rays get bounced left and right as they journey towards us, in a process called "scattering."
At "solar noon," when the sun appears at its highest point in the daytime sky, light reaches us most directly, passing through less atmosphere on the way, reducing the scattering effect. When the spectrum remains together, the light we see is the familiar yellowish-white look of sunshine.
But as the Earth turns during the day and the sun drops toward the horizon, sunbeams enter the atmosphere at a slant and pass through a denser swath of air before they reach us. When the short rays at the violet and blue end of the spectrum are deflected out in all directions, while the orange and red wavelengths dominate our perception of the skies color.
The Patagonian weather, skys in south Chile.