There is a deep sense of peace that can be felt when you are the only one on the water early in the morning. On this particular day, I was kayaking on Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis. From what I could see, I was the only person on the lake. The water was absolutely still, which turned the lake from a body of water into a mirror of the sky. I had been paddling for about fifteen minutes when the sun began to rise. I stopped to soak in the early rays and to take this photo.

A sunrise is one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring natural phenomena. And while it may seem like a simple matter of the sun rising in the sky, there is actually a lot of science involved in this daily event. For starters, the sun doesn't actually move; it's the earth that's spinning on its axis. This spinning motion causes the earth to slowly tilt away from the sun, until finally the sun appears to rise above the horizon. But why does the sun appear red during a sunrise? This is due to Rayleigh scattering, which is when light is scattered by particles that are much smaller than the wavelength of the light. The red light waves are scattered more than other colors because they have a longer wavelength. So, the next time you witness a sunrise, remember all of the fascinating science that is happening behind the scenes!