Purpurlicht

The purple light appears as an intense purplish glow in the cloudless clear sky. It occurs at solar altitudes of -2 to -5° and is understood as twilight maximum. The cause is tiny dust particles in the higher layers of the atmosphere, which scatter the sunlight. Therefore, the purple light is particularly intense after volcanic eruptions, larger forest fires, but also near large cities.

In rare cases, there can also be a counter purple light opposite the setting sun. But most of the time, the twilight becomes noticeable in violet, blue, and/or green shades, which contrast sharply with the slowly rising Earth's shadow.