A couple of days ago we were hanging out in our room when, like turning on the light, the whole room was bathed in a very bright orange glow. Either we had just been tango'd, or there was a mean sunset to check out from the bathroom window. The red and orange colours are caused by Rayleigh scattering, the same mechanism that causes the sky to be blue. As light travels through the atmosphere, some of it is scattered at large angles by small particles. This type of scattering, where the particles are much smaller than the wavelength, is called Rayleigh scattering. Because Rayleigh scattering is much stronger for shorter wavelengths, like blue, the light from a clear sky is blue. At sunrise or sunset the light has traveled a long distance through the atmosphere leaving only the longest wavelengths like orange and red. The reddened sunlight illuminates clouds and other particles. The combination of orange and red clouds and the blue sky can produce a further variety of colors. I took our camera and snapped these little beauties. No photoshop included. Cooper Out Love Dan & Kat