why has the sky got a "mirror" sort of effect?

acri

this is just a question that has been bugging me for a few weeks now. why is the sky only blue from one side? when we look up, we see a blue sky. however, when viewed from space, it is as if the sky does not exist and the earth does not appear as a blue orb. can anyone tell me why this is?

seinstein

I think It's something to do with the sunlight being scattered through the
different layers of gas. As each gas is a different density.
the sky is blue from in space. but only if the sun is partially hidden behind
the earth. obviously if the sun is behind you, the only blue you'll see is
the ocean.

the sun is hot at the top of the atmosphere, so the xeon gas is probably
burning with a blue flame.

At night the 'red sky at night' effect is probably caused because the sun is at a different angle. and if you move around the earth towards the sun, the sky would start to grow brighter, as you are making your angle of view change where the sun is at a higher degree in the sky.

hope that helps... I'm not an astronomer but it's an educated guess.:D

SystemError51

acri wrote:

this is just a question that has been bugging me for a few weeks now. why is the sky only blue from one side? when we look up, we see a blue sky. however, when viewed from space, it is as if the sky does not exist and the earth does not appear as a blue orb. can anyone tell me why this is?

It would be too complicated to explain this effect in detail. I don't think I can make such long posts...

Ok, short version. It mostly has to do with the particles of what our atmosphere is built of. In our case mostly oxygen, that makes the sky appear blue from within the atmosphere, and that makes our planet appear blue from the outside. The factor that water is also blue (because of how it's made), makes the planet even more appear blue from space.

ftodonoghue

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

"The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue."

If you were in space sky would be black as there is no atmosphere....That is why all the pics of apollo astronauts on the moon have a black sky...There is no atmosphere on the moon