NASA Scientist Simulates a Kaleidoscope of Sunsets on Other Worlds

Geronimo Villanueva, a NASA planetary scientist, created these sunset simulations while building a computer modeling tool for a possible future mission to Uranus, an icy-cold planet in the outer solar system. To validate the accuracy of his tool, Villanueva simulated known sky colors of various planets and moons, some of which are shown in this video.

The simulations show these worlds turning away from the light of the Sun, which is what’s happening when we see a sunset. As these worlds rotate, photons get scattered in different directions depending on the energy of the photons and the types of molecules in the atmospheres. The result is a lovely palette of colors that would be visible to those standing on these worlds.