Why does the Sun look red at sunset?
We have all enjoyed the beauty of glorious sunsets, when the Sun appears to be a fiery red. Why is the Sun, which is blazing white at noon, red at sunset? It is because sunlight or what we call 'white light' is made up of different colours, each having a different wavelength.
During a sunset, the sun's rays are slanting, and they pass through a much longer path in the lower atmosphere. The lower layers of the atmosphere have many more of the tiny particles called aerosols that are suspended even in the cleanest of air. Aerosols come from many sources like soil, alt from the ocean, plants, the burning of fossil fuels or vegetation.
As the lower layers of the atmosphere have more aerosols, their scattering effect is magnified. This results in more red light being scattered towards you than any of the other colours.., and in blazing sunsets.
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