And seeing a sunset and waking up in the morning to catch a sunrise, I noticed how different they look, but a sunrise is just a reverse sunset so shouldn’t it be the same?
In: Planetary Science
>The main reason they appear different is because of the amount of moisture and particulate in the air after a long exposure to sun vs. a long period without the heat of the sun. This is related to the [Mie Effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mie_scattering).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/lger4/why_do_sunrises_and_sunsets_look_significantly/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/lger4/why_do_sunrises_and_sunsets_look_significantly/)
r/Askscience actually covered this pretty well 13 years ago if you want more detail on it. But in general, the light progresses differently through the atmosphere at sunrise vs sunset, which causes the differences in appearances. Sunset light travels longer/farther because of rotation and the difference in atmosphere impacts the light differently.
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