How is light scattered in the atmosphere

But why are there different colors? The light you see is just one tiny bit of all the kinds of light energy beaming around the Universe - and around you! Like energy passing through the ocean, light energy travels in waves, too. What makes one kind of light different from others is its wavelength - or range of wavelengths. Visible light includes the wavelengths our eyes can see. The longest wavelengths we can see look red to us.

The shortest wavelengths we can see look blue or violet. The wavelengths in this picture are not to scale. A red light wave is about nanometers, while a blue or violet wave is about nanometers.

A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 50, nanometers thick! So these visible light wavelengths are very, very tiny. But as the Sun sets, the sky around the Sun begins to take on a blue-gray tone. The top image shows the orange-colored Martian sky during the daytime and the bottom image shows the blue-tinted sky at sunset.

Our World: Sunsets and Atmospheres. Why Is the Sky Blue? The Short Answer:. Blue light is scattered more than the other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. Explore some more! How do hurricanes form? How does GPS work? What is a solar eclipse? If you liked this, you may like: Earth's Atmosphere. How Do Hurricanes Form? Make a Cloud Mobile! But what makes the sea blue — is it reflecting the blue of the sky? Water molecules are good at absorbing longer wavelengths of light, so when sunlight hits the water the reds and oranges get absorbed.

The shorter wavelength blue light is absorbed very little and much of it is reflected back to our eyes. This article has been written by an astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Written and illustrated by astronomical experts, Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion, and approved by the astronomers of Royal Observatory Greenwich Buy Now.

Special Price. Sky-Watcher Skyhawk Telescope. The ideal telescope of choice for beginner to intermediate astronomers who are looking to expand their skygazing experiences What is light?

Spirit Captures a Sunset on Mars. Astronaut John W. Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, leaps from the lunar surface as he salutes the United States flag at the Descartes landing site during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity NASA.