Feeling blue? Why is the sky blue?

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Why Is the Sky Blue?

You are in the middle of a field, you take a hit, you look up sky as you exhale, and you think to yourself "Huh, I wonder why the sky is blue and not another color". It’s a cool mix of sunlight, the air around us, and a little science! Let’s break it down in a way that’s easy to understand.

Colors and the sunlight around us

Sunlight that we see is actually composed of different colors, think of a rainbow. Each color has its own wavelength, some which we can see and some not. Wavelength is just another way to say how long the light waves are. The Blue spectrum light has shorter waves compared to other colors like red or orange.

Here’s where the science really gets going: when sunlight hits the Earth’s atmosphere, it bumps into tiny particles and gases in the air. This is called Rayleigh scattering. Since blue spectrum light has shorter wavelengths, it gets scattered around way more than the other colors. With it being scattered show easily that’s why, when you look up, the sky looks mostly blue!

Changing Colors

The sky can change colors too! During sunrise and sunset, the sun is lower in the sky, and its light has to travel through more air. This scatters the blue light even more and lets the reds and oranges shine through, giving us those gorgeous sunset vibes.

Interesting Fact!

When you look at the stars, you're actually looking back in time! The light from stars takes years, sometimes thousands or even millions of years, to reach us. So, when you gaze up at the night sky, you are seeing how those stars looked long ago, not as they are right now. This means that some of the stars you see may no longer exist, yet their light continues to travel through space, reaching our eyes. It's like a cosmic time machine every time you look up!