Clouds, the Night Sky and Stars

Hello again!

Last week, I was talking to my young cousins about the sky and if hey could ask one question what would it be. One of them asked about the clouds and said ‘why don’t they fall down?’ I was struck by this question and decided to include the answer in my Blog. Clouds are made up of mostly tiny water droplets or ice crystals. These water droplets are very light and small that they can float in the air. Also, the wind in the air prevents the small water droplets from falling. This is why clouds don’t fall, but stay in the sky.

 

In my previous Blog post I mentioned that I would discuss why the Sky goes dark at night and where the stars fit in to all of this. Well, I’m sure that we all know the answer to why the sky goes dark at night, I’ll explain it anyway. The Earth is on an axis that is rotating all of the time. The Earth rotates away from the sun every day and when it is not facing the sun it goes dark. When it is night time we can see the moon and stars. One question which many people have asked is ‘why can’t the stars make the sky shiny and bright?’ Well, the stars are so far away that the total amount of light produced by these stars isn’t enough to make the night sky bright.

 

 

I hope that you learnt something new about the Sky in this post. Check out my next Blog post that is going to be about how and why the Sky changes colours from baby blues to rosy reds.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

http://pumas.jpl.nasa.gov/examples/index.php?id=98

http://www.dogonews.com/2012/10/25/the-real-reason-skies-go-dark-after-the-sun-sets

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=375

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/stars-in-the-night-sky-natthawut-punyosaeng.html
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/the-sky-is-the-limit-for-businesses-in-the-cloud-2014-11-14

Why is the Sky blue???

We see the sky everyday no matter where we are in the world. Yet we take the sky for granted. I’m sure all of us have thought and wondered about the sky. Be it when we were children and were wondering why the sky was blue, or when we saw that beautiful sunset and wondered how the sky could do something so amazing. So in this Blog post I am going to give you some facts on the Geography of the sky and what the sky is made up of.

In Wikipedia the definition of the sky is ‘the region of atmosphere and outer space seen from the earth’. The atmosphere is a layer of gases that not only protect the earth from the suns ultraviolent radiation and help preserve life on earth but also gives the sky its colour. The sky colour is due to the atmosphere and the nature of light waves. The earth’s atmosphere not only contains gases but also contains tiny dust particles and particulates which are mostly too small to be seen by the human eye. The smallest particulates are the same length as the wavelength of blue light. This is why the sky is blue.

I hope you enjoyed reading this Blog post on the Geography of the Sky. Make sure to check out my next Blog post where I will be discussing about the clouds in the sky, why the sky goes dark every night and where the stars fit in to all of this!

 

 

 

 

Sources:

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0045-why-is-the-sky-blue.php

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/skycolor.html

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

http://www.desktopwallpapers8.com/15514-blue-sky

Introduction

Hello, I'm Jessica and this is my blog on Geography of the Sky! I will be posting about why the sky changes colours so frequently and the geography behind these changes.