Talk:Alpenglow

I feel it is unnessisary to state when the sun sets in the west, as the sun always sets in the west. Could someone clearify this?

I concur. Although I must point out that technically, we only perceive the sun as "setting" in the west. With the exception of some of the polar regions, I believe that all areas have a "west-setting" sun. Therefore, I'm taking the "sets in the west" portion out of the article. Flag-Waving American Patriot 23:29, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

FYI - other sources include sunrise light 68.96.98.142 21:08, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I beg to differ. Alpenglow occurs when the sun's rays are diffracted through the atmosphere when the light is tangential to the earth's surface. You can watch a progression of colors of the rainbow as the sun sets. It is a direct illumination phenomenon, not indirect as noted on the main page. The Golden Hour and Alpenglow are one and the same. To say that Alpenglow occurs after the sun goes down is like stating that you can break up a ray of light using a prism, without shining the ray of light. Alpenglow is a direct illumination phenomenon. The colors of the Golden hour are just part of the rainbow of light, when the atmosphere is diffracted through the atmosphere like a prism. If you watch the Golden Hour on a white glacier you can actually see the progression of colors of the rainbow.Hmarin (talk) 23:15, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

As someone once said, if you stand on a mountaintop bathed in alpenglow, you will see the sun above the horizon. Alpenglow is a phenomenon of DIRECT SUNLIGHT, not indirect.Hmarin (talk) 10:08, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, many people use "alpenglow" to mean direct illumination from the setting or rising sun. But the word means more than that:

“	High, snow-covered mountains glow yellowish orange when lit up by the low sun. Perhaps 30 minutes later after the sun has set, the same mountains radiate a lovely purple which seems to brighten as their surroundings fade. This mountain glow is called the alpenglow.	”
—David K. Lynch and William Charles Livingston, Color and Light in Nature (2001) page 41

It seems that they include the pre-sunset golden light as an early stage of alpenglow, but the purple alpenglow occurs when the sun is well below the horizon, and is too diffuse to cast shadows. Palpable (talk) 08:19, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Isn't alpenglow just another name for either the Belt of Venus (when purple) or the golden hour (when golden) but specific to snow-capped mountains? Does this term need its own page? And if so, should it be mentioned as having no clear definition, but appears to describe either the Belt of Venus or the golden hour alternately, but as it appears from snow-capped mountains? Or am I missing something completely unique about it? 75.22.189.234 (talk) 08:22, 29 May 2011 (UTC)