- published: 10 Sep 2013
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An afterglow is a broad high arch of whitish or rosy light appearing in the sky due to very fine particles of dust suspended in the high regions of the atmosphere. An afterglow may appear above the highest clouds in the hour of deepening twilight, or reflected from the high snowfields in mountain regions long after sunset. The particles produce a scattering effect upon the component parts of white light.
After the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883, a remarkable series of red sunsets appeared worldwide. These were due to an enormous amount of exceedingly fine dust blown to a great height by the volcano's explosion, and then globally diffused by the high atmospheric currents. Edvard Munch's painting The Scream possibly depicts an afterglow during this period.
Sunset in Hong Kong after the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo
An afterglow in Dresden, Saxony, Germany
An afterglow in Slovenian mountains, near Triglav Lakes Valley
Sunset over the Bates College track in Lewiston, Maine.
An afterglow on a beach in Florida