We were graced with a rare treat on the flight South to Santiago de Chile; being in the West-facing window seats for a stunning sunset over the Pacific.
If you’ll forgive my inner physicist a moment; being 12,500m up means the sun can get even lower below the horizon and still be visible, with more of our atmosphere even further refracting our local star’s white light up through and onto the sky.
The upshot? Our setting sun grows to almost fill the horizon through our little porthole. It burns the deepest ruby red, the thin slice between endless cloud and blackest space becomes, in every direction, a vibrant earth-sized rainbow, with an electrifying ultraviolet stripe holding back the stars.
Can you tell I’m moved? I’d share a picture with you but, no word of a lie, these intensities and frequencies of light just can’t be captured, or displayed, by anything short of custom or laboratory photographic equipment. Instead, here’s a lovely picture of a sleepy Yvette, from just before the sky dazzled us.
After a very long day of travel this gorgeous sunset was quite literally, and only, a sight for sore eyes.