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Reports of remarkably torrid orange sundown on Earth and ruby red ringing around the major planet Venus have popped up on the Internet in the last week .
Some skywatchers distrust that these view are being colourise by the dust and gases inject into the atmosphere by the Aug. 7 extravasation of Alaska ’s Kasatochi vent . The skywatchers are probably right .
This picture of a brilliant red sunset, possibly enhanced by the dust from the eruption of Kasatochi volcano, was taken on Aug. 31 in Lawrence, Kansas. The photographer said of it, “This sunset … was very vivid and the bright rays popped out 15 minutes after the sun set."
Kasatochi , part of the Aleutian Island chain , sent an ash plumage more than 35,000 feet ( 10,600 metre ) into the atmosphere when it flare last month . [ Spaced Out ! 101 Astronomy Images That Will Blow Your brain ]
" This is a big ash tree - producing eruption , " said Peter Cervelli , a research geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory . During a survey of the sphere after the volcanic eruption , Cervelli and his workfellow discover ashfall deposits more than 6 inches ( 15 centimeters ) deeply at a spot 15.5 miles ( 25 kilometers ) away from the volcano .
The ok ash tree injected by a volcanic eruption into the stratosphere can be carried by winds all over the world . Sulfur dioxide spewed from volcanoes can oppose in the atmosphere to form sulfate aerosols ( aerosols are lilliputian particles suspended in the gentle wind ) . Both ash tree and aerosols canscatter the sun ’s rays , giving a sunset its apparent colouration .
subatomic particle in the melodic line unremarkably dot incoming sunlight — this is why the sky is grim . Sunsets ( and sunrises ) appear crimson because the sunlight ’s ray have more of the atmospheric state to travel through , and only the longer waves at the red terminal of the spectrum can make it . Sulfate aerosols in particular can step up this effect by adding more obstacles for the light to get through .
USGS research worker Melissa Pfeffer , also of the Alaska Volcano Observatory , articulate that the sunsets and other phenomena , which have been documented by Spaceweather.com , could indeed be relate to the eruption of Kasatochi , as satellites cut across the eruption ’s aerosol clouds show that they have spread over the intact Northern Hemisphere .
Sightings and image of unusually colorful sundown and other atmospherical phenomenon were first report Aug. 27 .
Another colorful sight skywatchers have seen are band of luminousness , call Bishop ’s rings , around the sun and moon , which occur when the aerosol bomb diffract the light from either source .
" That ’s a jolly coarse phenomenon after volcanic eruptions , " Pfeffer said , adding that the Venusian rings could be refer to stratospheric ash tree from Kasatochi but that she was unsealed if they were technically Bishop ’s rings .
Ruby cherry sunset and Bishop ’s rings were also attend after the monstrous eruption of the Philippines ' Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , Pfeffer add , though that eruption was on a much turgid scale than Kasatochi . In fact , the ash tree and aerosols that spewed from Pinatubo spread out across the globe and were so permeative that temperature in the class after the eruption werecooler than normal .
Originally published on Live Science .
