The sky's red color during sunset and sunrise

rishch

I understand why the sun is red,, due to most of the blue light of shorter wavelength being scattered in other directions because the sunlight has to travel through more atmosphere before it reaches our eyes, but why does the surrounding sky appear red to us?

phinds

Got a good answer by Googleing "why are sunsets red"

rishch

I know why sunsets are red, but I want to know why the sky surrounding the sun is red.

Drakkith

Why is the sky surrounding the Sun red during a sunset? Scattering of light and refraction. Red light is still scattered by the air, and during a sunset the light has to go through so much air that most of the blue light is already absorbed, leaving the longer wavelengths to get through. But even these longer wavelengths are still scattered some, so you see the reds and oranges since they actually make it through the atmosphere to you. Also, look closely as the Sun goes down and you should be able to see a subtle rainbow effect, with the colors changing as you get further away from the horizon due to refraction from the atmosphere.