Someone said once: “Never go too long without watching a sunset.” We couldn’t agree more. When you look at the sky you might find more than clouds and birds. Learn the names of these beautiful atmosphere phenomena in Spanish.

Alba: Dawn. The first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise. If you are an early bird or just have to get up really early to go to work like most people, you might be familiar with a similar sight. This word is also a name for a woman in Spanish.

Aurora: Aurora. Another name for a woman in Spanish, it is also a natural electrical phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of reddish or greenish light in the sky, usually near the northern or southern magnetic pole.

Ocaso: Dusk. The darker stage of twilight. A synonym of this word in Spanish could be “anochecer”.

Crepúsculo: Twilight. Not the book nor the movie. This is the soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon. It is caused by the refraction and scattering of the sun’s rays from the atmosphere.

Amanecer: Sunrise in English. It is the time in the morning when the sun appears or full daylight arrives.

Parhelio: (Remember not to pronounce the letter H in Spanish). Sundog or parhelion. It is a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun, formed by refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the earth’s atmosphere. You can see a sundog when the position of the horizon is low or at the sunset or sunrise.

Aureola: Halo. a circle of white or colored light around the sun, moon, or other luminous body caused by refraction through ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Do you want to know the right sentences to say in your next travel to a Spanish speaking country? Download this Survival Guide for free!