It is said that outer space is really dark, but from earth it appears that sky is blue why is this?
202836
The sun's rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, where the light is scattered by nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the air. The blue wavelength of this light is affected more than the red and green wavelengths, causing the surrounding air to appear blue. At sunset, the sun's light passes farther through the atmosphere, deflecting and decreasing the blue in the air. Scattering by dust particles and pollution in the air causes the sunset to appear red.
322780
Were you dissatisfied with the answers already provided?\n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=Ask3Fv6KK7.VsjY9b5.D52MezKIX?p=Why+is+the+sky+blue%3F
10575
The blue colour of the sky is due to an optical phenomenon called scattering of light. The sunlight is a mixture of a number of colors (the ones you see in the magnificent rainbow!). The molecules of the air cause these colors in sunlight to scatter by different amounts (or intensities).\n\nBlue light is scattered the most (this is explained by a formula called Rayleigh's criterion in Physics). In other words, blue color is 'spread' across the sky. And so you observe the sky to be blue. Sometimes even a clear blue sky looks as pretty!
455351
Well, obviously the sun doesn't stop outputting light just because we're cloudy.  We're still getting 1120 W/m^2 through the atmosphere.  It's just being reflected, scattered, or absorbed by clouds, moisture, etc.\n\nSince clouds appear white from space, that says that a big chunk of the sunlight that would otherwise have it the ground winds up sailing off into space.
34206
The pictures you see that are released by nasa or whoever are doctored. If you were out in space you would basically see what you see now. There are some differences in colors of stars, for example bettleguise ( forgive my horrible spelling) is a red giant and is a red colored star. However this really isn't what were talking about here. When you see nebulae and such in those pictures they are quite pretty, blue, red, all sorts of stuff going on there. In the truth of the matter if you could actually "look" through the hubble it would be just plain ole grey's and white's. Sometimes a picture is taken in several different wavelenghts and has each wavelength given as a different color. This is really not as common as some people think. I assure you that those amazing pictures that are full of color were processed to look amazing and not becasue they have these incredible colors themselves.\n\nOh one last thing, if you were up in space and you got a look at the sun it would appear bright white and not the yellow that we are used to here on the ground- the atmosphere gives it the color
95744
Because the air particles reflects different colors from light. The blue color wavelengths are so long that we see them without seeing the other colors.\n\nAt least that's what I remember, I think.\n\nAnd the sea looks blue because of the reflection from the sky. If you run your sink, the water is not blue. D:
74137
Neither is blue. \n\nThe SKY\nThe blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. \n\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \n\nThe Sea.\nParticles and solutes can absorb light, as in tea or coffee. Green algae in rivers and streams often lend a blue-green color. The red sea has occasional blooms of red Trichodesmium erythraeum algae. \nParticles in water can scatter light. The Colorado river is often muddy red because of suspended reddish silt in the water. Some mountain lakes and streams with finely gound rock, such as glacial flour, are tourquise. Light scattering by suspended matter is required in order that the blue light produced by water's absorption can return to the surface and be observed. Such scattering can also shift the spectrum of the emerging photons toward the green, a color often seen when water laden with suspended particles is observed. \nThe surface of seas and lakes often reflect blue skylight, making them appear bluer. [[[ Montana reflection.]]] The relative contribution of reflected skylight and the light scattered back from the depths is strongly dependent on observation angle.
302911
It all has to do with light being reflected & scattered before you see it.\n\nWhen the sun is directly overhead the light from the sun has less atmosphere to travel through so there is less interference & scattering. You see all colors of the visible EM spectrum together as white light. The sun itself is yellow; this is due to the fact that is a yellow star as opposed to a blue or red one. Yellow stars are medium temperature stars.\n\nHowever, when the sun is setting over the horizon, the light is traveling through more atmosphere. Because of this, there is more interference & scattering of the different wavelengths. You're eyes see the wavelengths that are reflected.\n\nAlso, during sunset, the light is reflecting off other stuff in the atmosphere like pollution & dust particles. Since it is traveling through more atmosphere there will be more particles to get through before it actually gets to your eyes.\n\nDepending on the types of particles in the air, the sunset will be different colors. The link below will give you more information on why sunsets are different colors.
567588
Actually you could see right through the nebula. Nebulae are extremely thin and much clearer than the air on clearest day on Earth. The only reason we can see them at all is that they are trillions of miles thick. It wouldn't be like the movies at all, where the space ship is hidden in a dense fog, it would be more like space looking clear but the stars appearing somewhat dimmer. So you could just triangulate on a number of known stars outside the nebula to determine your position.
659731
Hello,\n Air is , as we all know, matter in molecular (gaseous) state. Even in a very large volume of air, the number of molecules will be very very small compared to solid or liquid i.e; the density is less.\n  These molecules scatters as well as absorbs light. Considering a single molecule, the absorbtion is negligible compared to the light reflected by it. Molecules cannot be seen by our eyes. Reflected light being maximum, we see light and not darkness.This scattering is the reason we see light in the shades under trees etc, where no direct sunlight falls. Now, the light absorbed is used by its electrons to increase its energy levels.\n  Absorbtion is more when the air is filled with smoke and dust. They, being dense, absorbs more light and you see darkness.
15634
next to why is the sky blue, this has gotta be the second most frequently-asked question.  congratulations on making such an innovative and creative joke!\n\nthis page should help you out:\nhttp://www.style.org/unladenswallow/
202880
without molecules in the air around us, we actually sees the whole visible light spectrum (from Sun) i.e. the white light(combination of blue, red, green, violet.....). But in real life, we were surrounded by atmosphere rich of different kinds of molecules. These molecules scatter the whole visible light spectrum from the Sun except blue light spectrum. Thus we see the sky blue during the day.
82354
Darkness *is* the absence of light.\n\nWhen you look at something you're seeing light being reflected off surfaces and light is made up of all the colours of the spectrum.  Different surfaces will absorb and reflect different parts of the spectrum (different colours).\n\nWhen you mix different coloured paints together the result is a blend of all the colours combined - what you end up with is one colour made up of a mix of different colours. The same thing happens with reflected light, dpending just which parts of the spectrum are reflected determines what colour something appears to be.\n\nIf there is no light then there is no reflection and there is darkness.\n\nDon't confuse darkness with blackness.  For example, if you stand on the moon and look up at the 'sky' it's black even though it may be the middle of the day, it's only because the earth has an atmosphere that gives a blue sky.  Likewise if you stood in a room where everything was painted black when the room was illuminated it would still appear black. \n\nDarkness is also rock band fronted by high pitched voiced, catsuit wearing Justin Hawkins and a horror film from a few years back.
262677
if im understanding your question correctly, it would be the north pole during it's winter, and the south pole during its winter. during their winters, it stays dark almost all day because the earth is tilted. around the 21 of june the sun is directly shining on the tropic of cancer, which means the south pole is really dark. around december 21, it is directly on the tropic of capricorn, so the north pole is dark.
55246
Venus is brighter ,but the space station when you saw it might have been turn in a way that it was'nt getting a big reflection.Maybe it could be the time of year because of the axis of the earth .Just a guess.
664004
Exploring outer space is something we all do when we look at the stars at night, or the sun during the day.  I'm not a college educated person, but I know in my heart that the creation of what I see out there isn't all God is limited to.  He/She might have lots of populated 'earths' out there among the millions of planets that circle the stars eg suns.  I hope you find your answer
63228
The blueness of the sky is caused by sunlight scattering off particles in the atmosphere.  The intesity of the scattering is a strong function of the wavelength of light, so the blue light (one end of the spectrum) is observed more than red (the other end).