During a sunrise, the sun is lower in the sky, which lengthens the angle at which light reaches the Earth. As a result, the shorter violet, blue and green light never reaches the eye, so only the yellow, orange and red light is visible. Because red has the longest wavelength, the first light of dawn often appears pink or red--depending on the particles in the atmosphere. As the sun moves further up the sky, the reds and yellows fade as the scattered blue light becomes more visible.