July '25

How so? The blue side of the colour spectrum has a higher frequency and is more prone to dispersion. A photon oscillating at a higher rate moves much more intensively and is therefore likelier to bump into another molecule in the atmosphere, most commonly nitrogen or oxygen, but also fine dust particles.

During the daytime, when light abounds, the dispersion of photons renders the sky blue. At night, though, the atmosphere only lets in yellow, orange and red light. When Krakatoa expelled over twenty cubic kilometres of substance, part of it spread out into the entire atmosphere. More fine particles in the way of the sunbeams meant that light would be more dispersed.

Norwegian painter Edvard Munch used to like to say about his famous work The Scream that one day, the sky over an evening fjord suddenly turned blood-red and he felt nature screaming. In that instance, this expressionist perhaps did not exaggerate much.

If the story is true, then his work belongs among the many masterpieces inspired by the reddening evening sky. The newest of such works is now hopefully embellishing your honourable feet.