I've been brainstorming on a sci-fi world and began thinking about the color of the sky and what creates that color/effect. I think I understood at one time how the atmosphere affects how we see the sky, but I'm having trouble recalling the details.

What would make for different colored skies on various planets? Assuming of course the atmosphere is not so thick as to totally obscure the sky.

 

And then there's the problem of moons . . .

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Exile of my own dull vice. . .

 

Of course, clean air is a relative term. We complain about the quality of our air all the time but in fact it is far cleaner than the atmospheres of many other worlds. The surface of Saturn's moon, Titan, is constantly hidden beneath a thick smog of hydrocarbons that must be renewed by some process, otherwise her slight gravity and lack of magentic field would've unshrouded her long ago.

 

But even on earth, dust is everywhere. About ten percent of the dust on your roof is of interplanetary and interstellar origin because millions of tons of dust particles are constantly raining down on our planet from the space around us. The remaining ninety percent of the dust outside is composed of wind-blown sand dunes, bits of weathered rock, and volcanic ash. (Inside your house, the dust is quite different, being composed mainly of your own dead skin.)

 

If there was very little or no dust or vapor in our air to reflect and scatter light, the sun and stars would shine in a black sky all the time, as on the moon, and the shade under a tree or the shadow of a building would be dark as night.

 

 

 

 

 

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Daniel

 

Without Really Trying blog

 

It's the same reason the electronics salesman told you to place your home theatre's subwoofer at least nine feet from the couch, so you can actually appreciate all that bass.

 

That's also why, if you live in an apartment complex, your neighbors hate you and your subwoofer: because the bedroom two floors above or below you is vibrating in the full effect of your subwoofer while you, sitting six feet from it in your puny apartment livingroom, are complaining that the damn thing doesn't work.

 

Dan, very interesting article. Did you notice that the FBI synopsis claims that he was innocent of violating statues (as oposed to statutes). So communism is now linked to sculpture molestation? Wow. And I thought that was the sole pervue of us anarchists (or is that antichrists?)

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Exile of my own dull vice. . .

 

http://www.sky-watch.com/articles/skyblue.html

 

During sunrise and sunset, the Sun’s light must pass a greater distance through the atmosphere in order to reach our eyes because instead of dropping directly through the atmosphere, it reaches the Earth at an angle. The same scattering effect on the blue light, also takes place, but the blue light is unable to pass through the extra distance and reach our eyes. This leaves only the red light which passes, unhindered through the atmosphere and reaches our eyes in a direct line with little or no scattering.

 

 

 

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David Boultbee

 

http://www.davidboultbee.com

http://www.thegenderdivide.com