this is the sky last night.... painted a reckless pink that colored even the light in my livingroom, changing all the colors to something warmer & rarer. I know, in my head, that the light refracts through the atmosphere and all that... but in my heart, I think God must take such joy in creating that sort of sky - he who created the atmosphere surely knew what it would do when the dying light of day hit it just right - demonstrating the merest drop of his great beauty. i, for one, was taken in by it...
8 comments:
Wow..what a beautiful post. I was in my car last night, exclaiming outloud about the beauty of the sky like a madwoman. I couldn't help it...
Me too! After our talk at Revive, I thanked God for making something so beautiful, when he didnt have to, and for giving me the opportunity to see it.
Technically it is not so much refraction as in a prism, but a process called Rayleigh Scattering in which air molecules preferentially scatter blue light (so the further light penetrates through the atmosphere, the redder it is). Individual photons interacting with the electromagnetic dipoles of oxygen and nitrogen molecules (with a 4th power dependency that gives the blue shift!).
OK, nobody wanted to hear that much detail. But to me, the beauty goes beyond the heart-shattering sunset we see, to the wondrous complexity that underlies it. A magnificent outcome from an even more magnificent universe.
you make an exellent point...i think... down near the end there... :) the complexity truly is astonishing!
I didn't get to see it ... I'm still mostly stuck in my house. :-( But thank you for taking a photo so I could see it through your eyes!
I'm really enjoying this post...what great comments. Mark, I wish I could have met you, but if you are anything like the rest of your family, I'm sure I would be better off for having met you! :)
Sheesh. That kind of education is intimidating... I never even heard of a dipole before....well, maybe just once or twice.
"Star light, star bright ..." Okay, I admit Marilyn made me read this. But what the heck ... it was a great night after all.
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