The only information I could find was very general and basically said that it was due to light being scattered by the atmosphere. But I don’t understand how is the process different on the two planets? Otherwise the sunset would be the same colour on both of them
I tried asking /askscience but nobody replied
In: 8
Mars has a different balance of gases in its atmosphere compared to Earth. Different gases absorb and re-emit different frequencies of light. The Nitrogen-Oxygen mix of Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue light more, leaving more red behind when the sun is near the horizon. The CO2 atmosphere of Mars is better at scattering red light so that you mostly see blue in the same situation.
Earth’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen gas and oxygen gas, both of which are blue. So the sky looks blue during the daytime, but near sunrise and sunset all the blue light has been filtered out before the sunlight reaches you, with the result that the sky starts looking red (i.e., white light minus blue light).
Mars’s “atmosphere”, if you can call it that, is mostly carbon dioxide and dust, both of which are red. So the sky tends to look red during the daytime, but near sunrise and sunset all the red light has been filtered out before the sunlight reaches you, with the result that the sky starts looking blue (i.e., white light minus red light).
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