I find nothing more beautiful on this planet than a vibrant sunrise or sunset. The majesty of the sun rising to greet us to a new day, give us a fresh start, and a chance to seize the new opportunity. The last few rays of a sunset kissing our cheeks allowing us to unwind from the stresses of the day, reminding us of the astounding beauty that exists, and to bid us a fond farewell, until next time.

This stunning elegance graces our days because of a phenomena called Rayleigh scattering. This scattering is when a ray of light collides with a particle in the atmosphere and is deflected from its path. The amount of scattering is the inverse of the wavelength of light to the fourth power (1/⋋^4). Since blue and violets are shorter wavelengths, they are scattered much more easily. The lower the angle of the sun on the horizon, the more of Earth’s atmosphere the light must travel through, which means that nearly all of the blue and violet light is scattered. Thus, mostly reds and oranges reach our eyes.

For a simple overview of this, visit http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/

For a more in depth explanation, visit http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html#c2.