How are Sunsets created?

Red sunsets are created when the sun is low on the horizon and its light must pass through a greater thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere before it reaches the observer. As the light travels through the atmosphere, it is scattered in all directions by the air molecules and particles present in the air. This scattering causes the direct sunlight to appear white, but it also causes the sky to take on a reddish hue, especially at sunrise and sunset.

The color of the sunset is determined by the specific wavelengths of light that are scattered. At sunrise and sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon, the light must pass through more of the atmosphere to reach the observer. This causes the shorter, red wavelengths of light to be scattered less than the longer, blue wavelengths. As a result, the sky appears reddish-orange or pink, while the direct sunlight appears white.

The intensity of the red color in a sunset can vary depending on the specific atmospheric conditions, such as the amount of moisture and dust present in the air. Sunsets can also appear more red when there is a layer of clouds on the horizon, as the clouds can act as a natural filter, scattering the red wavelengths of light and making the sunset appear more vibrant.

On this specific day we had ALOT of clouds. Our “time window” of this red sunset was about 3 minutes