Alpenglow

• An astronaut stationed at the International Space Station has shared some breathtaking images of the mesmerising ‘alpenglow’ phenomenon near the Hindu Kush mountain range in India.

ABOUT ALPENGLOW

• Alpenglow refers to the indirect sunlight reflected or diffracted by the atmosphere before sunrise or after sunset, giving a horizontal reddish glow near the horizon opposite the Sun.
• Alpenglow occurs when direct sunlight around sunrise or sunset is reflected off airborne precipitation, ice crystals or particulates in the lower atmosphere, as the sunlight has no direct path to reach a mountain.
  • After sunset, if there are no mountains the aerosols in the eastern sky can be lit up by the remaining red light scattered above the edge of Earth’s shadow.
  • It produces a pinkish band on the opposite side of the Sun’s direction, named the Belt of Venus.
• It typically occurs in the range of colors between red, pink, and orange.

ABOUT HINDU KUSH

• The Hindu Kush mountain range is geographical feature that stretches over 800 kilometres and winds through Afghanistan, reaching into Northern Pakistan and Tajikistan.
• It constitutes the western expanse of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
• The Hindu Kush Himalayan region spans eight countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
• It is referred to as “the third pole” of the earth as it has largest concentration of frozen water on Earth after the North Pole and South Pole.