Yew Tee residents in the northwest of Singapore were treated to a fiery sunset scene at dusk on March 8, 2021.

The sun appeared as a full fireball in the sky as it slowly descended and disappeared in the horizon.

According to multiple photos shared by different people in a Facebook group for Yew Tee residents, the sunset occurred after 7pm on Monday.

Other shots of the sun setting showed it in its full glory:

Why sunsets are reddish?

The light from the sun scatters when it travels through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Different colours scatter differently.

Light of shorter wavelengths, such as violet, blue, green and yellow undergoes greater scattering.

Those of longer wavelengths, such as orange and red, scatter less.

Due to the spherical shape of the earth, sunlight travels a longer distance in the thick of the Earth’s atmosphere during sunset and sunrise, when the sun is at the horizons, than when the sun is at the zenith (midday).

There is a higher probability for shorter wavelength light to get more scattered than for the longer wavelength light.

Hence, the sun at sunrise and sunset appears reddish orange.

As the Earth is spinning from West to East, relatively we move towards the Sun during mornings (eastward) and away from the sun during evenings (westward).

There is one phenomenon, called, Doppler Effect, which adds to this differential.

Top photos via Hadi Aziz & Maureen Koh S H