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willstaruss22
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Lets say Earths atmosphere with the same composition of gases was 500 bar. Would the sky be red instead of blue because light from the Sun would have to travel through more atmosphere?
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If the atmosphere was thicker,wouldn't the sun look red even at noon?willem2 said:The sun itself would be very red. I dont't think the sky would have to be red, as the light that you see would still be the part of the sunlight that is scattered. At sunrise/sunset, the sunlight will take a much longer path through the atmosphere, and only the sun itself and the sky close to it is red.
adjacent said:If the atmosphere was thicker,wouldn't the sun look red even at noon?
willstaruss22 said:So at noon the sky would essentially still be blue but the Sun would look red?
Of the order of ~200-300km at sea level pressure. You get a similar effect with less than 50 bar surface pressure and the sun directly above you - but then blue light gets a really hard time reaching the surface, so the rest of the sky will probably look dark red.bunchie said:what if the normal depth of the atmosphere was the distance light travels through the atmosphere at sunset, when the sun is red?
The color of the sky is due to a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, where the Earth's atmosphere scatters sunlight in all directions. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more easily, making it the dominant color we see in the sky.
Yes, a thicker atmosphere would change the color of the sky. This is because a thicker atmosphere would scatter more light, causing longer-wavelength colors like red to become more dominant.
The exact amount of thickness needed for the sky to appear red would depend on various factors such as the composition of the atmosphere and the amount of light it receives. However, in general, a significantly thicker atmosphere would be needed to noticeably change the color of the sky.
Yes, a thicker atmosphere would have other effects on the sky. For example, it could make the sky appear more hazy or opaque, as more light would be scattered and absorbed by the atmosphere. It could also change the appearance of sunrise and sunset, as the thicker atmosphere would cause more refraction and dispersion of light.
Yes, there are planets with thicker atmospheres where the sky appears red, such as Mars. This is because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere compared to Earth, and the dust particles in its atmosphere are larger and able to scatter longer-wavelength colors like red more efficiently.