Australia’s best sunset and sunrise spots
THERE’S SOMETHING MYSTICAL about watching a good sunrise or sunset.
Some are more magnificent than others, depending on a number of different factors, such as the location and amount of cloud cover. Moisture or dust in the air also causes the light to refract and changes the colours visible to the human eye.
But for ideal conditions, viewers have to catch the sun at a particular angle and just hope the moisture levels in the sky turn it on.
“A misty morning, or upper level cloud cover, where the rain doesn’t hit the ground is ideal,” says Danny Galbraith, from Geoscience Australia. “It’s more about the scattering of the sun’s wavelength.”
Danny compares the phenomena to white light entering a prism and creating a rainbow as it exits. “The angle of the sun affects the colours we see. When the elevation [of the sun] is above 20 degrees, there’s very limited refraction, and when it’s above 30 degrees it always looks the same,” says Danny. “That’s why it has to be close to the horizon.”
The location also has a big impact on the beauty of a sunrise or sunset.
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