Question

Why are the colors of the sky at sunrise different at sunset?

Asked by: Jesse Jordan

 Answer

Dust in the atmosphere can by scattering produce very interesting sky colours. The redness of Mars is due to lots of dust in its atmosphere. At Earth, during the day, activity on the ground stirs up dust into the air, which scatters the light when we see it at sunset. At night the dust settles, so we see less scattering by dust in the morning at the sunrise, so different colours in the sky.

Answered by: Paul Hodgkinson, Physics Undergrad. Cambridge University, UK.

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