Ask HN: The sky was orange and purple for a few minutes today in Cardiff

[acheong08]

Today I woke up at around 4 pm to see a strange orange around my window blinds. I rushed to open it up and saw the sky quickly change to a purplish hue.

I thought I had been sleeping too long so I asked a friend living nearby. Same phenomenon.

It quickly returned back to normal within a few minutes.

What happened?

[Sarisafari]

Is it this? https://nation.cymru/news/this-is-why-the-sky-turned-pink-an...

[acheong08 → Sarisafari]

Yes this is exactly what I saw!

The others on this thread had me convinced this was just how sunsets look in the U.K.

[defrost → acheong08]

Such things are uncommon in the UK ... but even less common in Malaysia.

Equatorial sunsets are over pretty quick and there's a very short window in which the light path from the sun passes through a lot more of the atmosphere.

The closer to the poles you move the longer the sunsets and sunrises - above a certain latitude you'll find seasons with days that have no night and others that are all night with no day - for long periods the sun is either low on the horizon or just below it.

This opens the viewer up to more reflection and refraction events where dust in suspension, clouds, create wavelength effects on the light spectrum and other illusions.

[cpach → acheong08]

Wow. That looks very special indeed. I have seen the sky in pink or orange hues, but never solid magenta or fuchsia like in those photos. Very cool!

[brudgers]

What happened?

You noticed it.

A non trivial number of sundowns are spectacular.

We just aren't in the habit of noticing.

Even less in the habit for sunups.

But the light show happens twice a day.

Good luck.

[acheong08 → brudgers]

It was completely different from any sunset I’ve seen in Malaysia.

[hulitu]

> Ask HN: The sky was orange and purple for a few minutes today in Cardiff

Polution.

[h2odragon]

sunset

the light you saw was probably lensed / prism split by a cloud way off to the west, you happened to catch the light show in those few moments it slid over your portion of the planet.

[quickthrower2]

I wonder if the orange came from the Sun + Atmosphere, or was related to reflections of closer things to the window, such as a tree? Purple sky I see sometimes in Australia, in the evening. It is quite beautiful.

[i386]

Sunset must be rare if your country is covered in clouds most of the time.

[acheong08 → i386]

Well, sunsets in Malaysia are beautiful but look quite different.

First time seeing a sunset in the U.K. And I only just woke up so I was surprised and thought something was wrong with my eyes

[tednjrdjyrr]

Is this a for real question? Or is it like a joke about how cloudy Cardiff is?

[lgkk]

Aliens are coming. And they are bringing the 70s back.

[JumpinJack_Cash]

why wasn't this on the news?

[technosignature]

a glitch in the simulation