BTW, Why are Peoria's sunsets so much more colorful in the winter?
Psychopath in-law left early this morning. All that is left to do is to sprinkle holy water and incense throughout the house, burn the sheets in the guest bedroom, take a hot bubble bath, and then I will declare myself healed from the latest invasion from the judgmental stress jockey I am related to by marriage. Well, all the aforementioned remedies plus a bottle of wine. And a box of chocolate. And half a bottle of Xanex... yeah, that ought to do it.
Might even need to make time to watch the director's cut of Gladiator. Russ knows how to make it all better.
Thank God.
4 comments:
Q: BTW, Why are Peoria's sunsets so much more colorful in the winter?
A: In part, it is because the air is clearer, and there is more likelihood of ice crystals in the air.
Another reason, to put it simply, is that the longer light travels the more hue it has to it because it passes through more elements in our atmosphere. (This does not mean the Earth is farther from the Sun, because we are closest to the Sun in December. But, that is another story.)
To illustrate what I'm talking about look at Mars, which comes up early in the evening in the east.
Mars is easy to find. It is the brightest thing in the sky, with the exception of the Moon, of course.
Anyway, if you look at Mars (with the unaided eye) at dusk or very soon after dark, while it is still low in the sky, it will appear very reddish.
Look at Mars later in the evening as it approaches the overhead position and it will appear white.
Then look at Mars as it prepares to set in the west and it will take on a visibly reddish hue again.
The reason is the closer you look at something near the horizon the more atmosphere, and, therefore, the more distortion caused elements, color-wise, you are looking through.
This is why astronomers ideally look at planets, stars, galaxies, etc. when they are overhead.
The less atmosphere, the less distortion.
Professor DeWayne,
What do you mean by atmosphere, exactly? Pollution? Particles? What do you mean by elements? And why is the air clearer in winter than summer? why? Why? Why?
I'm hardly a professor, Polly.
Just an amateur astronomer.
Q: What do you mean by atmosphere, exactly? Pollution? Particles?
What do you mean by elements?
A: What I mean is the elements making up the atmosphere, basically the air we breathe. The atmosphere is the layer of protection we have from the sun and outer space.
Oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and other gases are all elements of our atmosphere. As light passes through these differing elements they give off different light wavelengths creating different colors. In essence, the atmosphere acts as a prism.
We see ther same thing, only more dramatically, in the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are the result of solar particles hitting our upper atmosphere and those gases reacting to the particles and lighting up in different colors depending on what gas is being affected.
Q: And why is the air clearer in winter than summer? why? Why? Why?
A: A lot of it has to do with the lower humidity.
In summer the air has more humidity. The water vapor in the air creates a barrier to good seeing.
Let me give you an example.
When looking through a telescope in the summer you have to take the telescope out and let it warm up to the ambient air temperature. Otherwise when you look through it at a bright object like the Moon you see heatwaves, like those seen coming off a highway when you look down aways.
And, even after allowing the telescope to warm up you are still likely to see some heat waves distorting the image. This is because of the water vapor in the air being pushed around by upper level atmospheric winds.
The humidity is so bad in the summer some telescope users bring electric hair dryers with them to dry off the dew that forms. On the exterior of my telecope in the summer it is common after a few hours for the metal exterior of my scope to be dripping wet.
If you take that same scope out in the winter you have to let it cool down. But, once it does you have very, very little distortion in the images because there is so much less water vapor in the air. It is also rare in the winter to deal with dew on your scope.
It's like what we see in our grass. Dew in spring and summer.
Little to no dew in the grass in fall and winter.
I hope that answers your questions.
Yeah, thanks! I learned a lot. I hope Santa brings you a new telescope for Christmas, Dewayne. You've been a good boy.
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