StarTalk Radio Things You Thought You Knew – Head in the Clouds
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Apr 8, 2025 Get ready to drift through the whimsical world of twilight, where Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice unveil the true nature of civil, nautical, and astronomical phases. They'll debunk common myths and reveal how locations like Alaska bask in perpetual twilight. Then, dive into the science behind cloud formation and explore how temperature and humidity influence weather phenomena. Finally, uncover the chilling implications of climate change on coastlines and ponder the quest for extraterrestrial life in the watery depths of Mars and Europa.
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Three Twilights
- There are three kinds of twilight: civil, nautical, and astronomical.
- These are determined by the sun's position below the horizon, affecting light scattering in the atmosphere.
Movie Mistakes
- Movies often inaccurately depict immediate darkness after sunset, like in "Back to the Future."
- This overlooks atmospheric light scattering, which causes twilight.
Atmospheric Scattering
- The atmosphere scatters sunlight, creating twilight even after the sun sets.
- Without an atmosphere, darkness would be immediate, as seen on the moon.