Why sunrise and sunset

At sunrise and sunset, when the path through the atmosphere is longer, the blue and green components are removed almost completely, leaving the longer wavelength orange and red hues seen at those times. The remaining reddened sunlight can then be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles to light up the horizon red and orange. Sunset colours are typically more brilliant than sunrise colours, because the evening air contains more particles than morning air. On a clear night, gaze up at the sky for long enough and, you will see shooting stars and maybe even spot a comet.

Be tempted into the dark by moon beams and starlight, grab your coat and put a toe into the into the twilight zone. Experience the amazing sight of badgers emerging into the dusk from their setts, foraging for food and playing in the moonlight.

English Cymraeg. For Businesses. It would follow the track high in your sky, and eventually set on the western horizon. It would be up for about 17 "hours", thus making summertime days long and warm.

On the Winter Solstice, you would observe the Sun rising at the western end of the smallest track. It wouldn't rise high in the sky, and would be up for only about 6 or 7 hours, making your days short on daylight and cold.

At the Spring and the Fall equinoxes, the Sun would rise at the east end of the middle track and set at the west end. Build your own Sun Track Diorama What about the stars? The rising points of the stars don't change as much as the Sun's because they are so very far away.

So the rising points of stars on the horizon were not as critical to ancient cultures. However, the rising times of stars change by 4 minutes each day, so any particular star would rise at different times during the year.

For about half the time, the star would rise during the daytime and thus be blocked by the huge light of our Sun. There was something called the "heliacal" or dawn rise of a star -- and this happened on only one day of the year. Thus these dawn rising were extremely useful for keeping track of exact days. If that were the case, the Sun would rise and set at the same times every day. It would also take the same path across the sky every day of the year.

However, neither of those conditions is true for Earth. Instead of a perfectly- circular orbit , Earth's orbit around the Sun is slightly elliptical. This means that the Sun travels across the sky at slightly different speeds from day to day depending upon where Earth is in its orbit. Earth's axis is also not perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. Instead, Earth is tilted on its axis approximately This is what gives us our seasons here on Earth.

When the North Pole is tilted toward the Sun, the Northern Hemisphere experiences summer, and the Sun is high in the sky at noon. During the winter, the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, and at noon the Sun doesn't get nearly as high in the sky. Earth's tilt also explains why the longest day of the year occurs on the summer solstice usually around June Likewise, the shortest day of the year occurs on the winter solstice usually around December The combination of Earth's elliptical orbit and the tilt of its axis results in the Sun taking different paths across the sky at slightly different speeds each day.

This gives us different sunrise and sunset times each day. Once the summer solstice passes, you'll notice the days begin to get shorter each day. This trend continues until the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. After the winter solstice, days get slightly longer each day up until the summer solstice, and the process repeats year after year. Are you ready to rise and set with the Sun?

Find a friend or family member to help you explore the following activities:. Actually, the Earth's axis is at a Information via timeanddate.

Many sites have rounded this angle UP to Great question, bryanna! We did some digging, and we think that this article from Nasa SpacePlace should help you learn more about Earth's axis!

That's right, henriqDA24! The sun rises at different times throughout the year because Earth is tilted on its axis! That is a cool photo, and the sun can definitely look magical - especially when it looks like someone is holding it!! We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience. Drag a word to its definition.

You have answered 0 of 3 questions correctly and your score is:. Want to add a little wonder to your website? Help spread the wonder of families learning together. We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply. Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. Why does the Sun rise and set at different times each day? What is the shortest day of the year?