Why is the Sky Blue?

Abstract

CAN any of your readers inform me why the sky is blue? Is it that the predominant colour of sunlight being orange, the regions devoid of sunlight appear of the complementary colour? If so, the planets of Sirius and Vega would have a black sky, those of Betelgeux a green sky, while those of the double stars would have different coloured skies at different times, according to their position with respect to their two luminaries. Or again, is the blueness merely the colour of our atmosphere, as Prof. Tyndall's experiments have led some to believe? In favour of the former explanation, is the fact that the maximum intensity of the light of the solar spectrum is in the orange, and indeed that the sun looks orange, and if we close our eyes after gazing a moment at him when high up in the sky, we see a blue image. When the sun is low, his colour changes from orange to red, and this would explain the green tintsso often seen in the cloudless parts of the sky at sunset. Possibly Mr. Glaisher, who has seen the sky through a thinner stratum of air than most of us, could help us to a solution.