The greater Adelaide area has been blessed with amazing sunsets these last few days which has got me to thinking about how they happen.

When there are local high clouds and hundreds of kilometers of clear dry air off into the direction of the sunset magic happens.
The light from the sun, now well below the horizon, is bent around the curvature of the earth. The long path through the atmosphere filters out the colours from violet through to yellow lighting up the local clouds with vivid reds and oranges.

This image is actually before sunset with the sun disappearing behind Rapid Head. The light show is juts beginning.

Unfortunately our gorgeous sunsets do not last very long due to the angle of the sun in the sky . Now nearing our summer solstice we can expect the really vivid colours to last no more than about 5 minutes (compared to about 10 minutes in winter) as the sun races of into the west.

The title of this image comes from the poem ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ by Dylan Thomas; “… Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 703, The Dying of the Light’, 1/320 f/8 ISO100 15mm