(upbeat music) Hello everyone, this is Mark Keller, and you are tuning into another episode of Look Up Science in the Sky. Today we will unravel mysteries that are stretching out over our heads each night. Those mesmerizing plays of light, dark, and color that take over during twilight. When our journey through the cosmos today, we'll discuss what those evening hues signify and how to decipher the signs they leave for us. So buckle up, stargazers. Have you ever marveled at a particularly riveting sunset with streaks of brilliant orange and tender violet merging into one in the horizon? Those colors aren't just an artist's palette strewn across the canvas of our skies. Each shade has an implication, an enigma waiting for us to explore. Take the color orange, for instance. When this warm hue usually appears at sunrise or sunset, and which means that the sun is either at its eastern or western horizon. The orange color is essentially sunlight being refracted or bent by the earth's atmosphere while it traverses a greater atmospheric path. It's the longer route that the rays of our everyday star have to follow when it's close to the horizon and it's this pathway that pours an abundance of warm glowing color into our skies. Isn't that fascinating? Another hue that often mesmerizes us is the gentle blush of violet that's usually seen wrapping up the spectacle of an evening sunset. Well, the violet we see as a result of the sun's light being scattered more in our atmosphere, while violet light refracts even more than the blue light, our eyes are less sensitive to it, and it gets absorbed into the subsequent layer of atmosphere. Due to this absorption, what we often perceive is a shimmering blend of blue and violet painting the heaven with a hue so serene it's like poetry draped in colors. Awesome, these colors of the sky aren't just beautiful. They're also carriers of knowledge about our atmosphere, climate, weather, and more. And now, Tom, by studying these colors, we're not just stargazing. We're also peering into the many layers of understanding about our living planet. Chaining skies indicate different atmospheric and weather conditions, and expanding our knowledge of these signs can help us anticipate what's to come in our terrestrial lives. It's been a thrilling flight with you through the cosmos today. This has been Mark Keller, and you've been listening to look up signs in the sky. Check out our show notes for more information and any external articles we mentioned in this episode. I encourage you to travel through this incredible world with curiosity, always seeking to learn from what our stunning cosmos has to offer. And if you ever have any messages for me, send them in. Keep looking up, stargazers, and remember, our skies are always telling us a tale. It's about time we learn to read it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
