A Finnish sunrise

Is a sight to behold. At this time of year the sun barely raises itself above the horizon and there are only a few hours of daylight.

This morning, far on the horizon, behind the expanse plains of pinewoods the sky is a dull orange. The colours graduate themselves. Above the orange are faint yellowy oranges; above these, the colours graduate out yellows to light faint green; from greens to light blues and turquoises and from these to deeper blues, navy, and eventually the inky black/purples of the upper skies where distant stars still twinkle.

All this colour spectrum is punctuated by the odd low, flat, disc like cloud, deep grey in colour. Of course, this is only on the horizon in the Far East across the vast Russian steppes. To the west, land and sky merge in one black mass, the horizon as yet indistinguishable.

 

As the sun slowly emerges for another day, these colours, of course, change. Watery yellows and greens, various shades of turquoise climb higher in the sky. The orange glow deepens at the base and at sometime around 10 ish, the sun will make its first tentative appearance over the horizon line, a deep orange disc that inches it's way higher.

 

For a few hours we will ski in sunlight before this powerhouse of our solar system starts its gentle journey downwards to once again hide itself on the other side of our planet.

What an extraordinary world we live on!