The sun has turned BLUE over Britain – but there is a simple explanation

Sky watchers across the UK were in for a shock this morning when they looked up to find the sun had turned blue.

Photos of the bizarre phenomenon have flooded X (formerly Twitter), with one amazed user writing: “My goodness I’ve never seen a blue sun before!”

Fortunately, the unusual shade is nothing to worry about, and there is a simple explanation.

“We saw some spectacular images of the ever-changing colors of the sun and sky this morning,” the Met Office tweeted.

“This is due to a mix of Canadian wildfire smoke and high clouds scattering sunlight over the UK.”

Sky watchers across the UK were in for a shock this morning when they looked up to find the sun had turned blue

Photos of the bizarre phenomenon have flooded X (formerly Twitter), with one amazed user writing: “My goodness I’ve never seen a blue sun before!”

Several confused users took to X this morning to discuss the blue sun.

“My goodness, I’ve never seen a blue sun!” wrote one user.

“I remember the dark orange and red of the sun as Ophelia swept Portuguese wildfire smoke over the UK in 2017…why is it blue this time?”

“We have a scary blue sun over Twickenham today,” tweeted another.

In response, ITV weather presenter Chris Page explained what was going on.

“I get a lot of questions about how the sun looks eerily blue today,” he said.

“It is the power of wildfire smoke that scatters sunlight drawn across the Atlantic from North America due to Storm Agnes.”

Every visible color has a different wavelength.

“Violet has the shortest wavelength at about 380 nanometers and red has the longest wavelength at about 700 nanometers,” explains NASA.

As sunlight travels to Earth, it is naturally scattered by airborne particles such as dust and smoke.

The shorter the wavelengths, the easier the light can be scattered.

This explains why the sky is blue.

Several confused users took to X this morning to discuss the blue sun. “My goodness, I’ve never seen a blue sun!” wrote one user

“We saw some spectacular images of the ever-changing colors of the sun and sky this morning,” the Met Office tweeted. “This is due to a mix of Canadian wildfire smoke and high clouds scattering sunlight over the UK.”

And with more smoke in the atmosphere – as was the case after the wildfires in Canada – there is more scattering, making even the sun appear blue.

This is not the first time this has happened.

In 1950, the sun appeared blue over Ontario cities and towns following the Chinchaga firestorm – one of the largest wildfires ever recorded in North America.

More often the moon can be seen in two unusual hues.

During a lunar eclipse, the moon can turn blood red, and in very rare cases it can even be seen in a bluish hue.

This would only happen if you looked at the moon through a haze of dust particles in our atmosphere, possibly from a recent volcanic eruption.