Explanation:
Is the Roof of Africa on fire?
A group hiking at 6 am near the top of
Mt. Kilimanjaro watched the rising sun peak above the clouds and
the horizon light up red.
Don't worry -- in this case the highest volcano in Africa is not even erupting.
The spectacular sunrise
colors are caused by light scattering off the
atmosphere and small cloud particles.
If all of the scattered light that makes the
sky blue were added back into the scene,
the sunrise would appear Sun-colored and not so red.
A similar light scattering effect involving small airborne
dust particles causes
sunsets on Mars to be red
and has been used to determine the sizes of particles in the
rings of Saturn.
During this trek in 2000 November, a group of about 30 reached the
Kilomanjarosummit after a six-day climb.
