my window

This is the view from my dining room:

Did I mention I love my new house? And soon I will be able to scientifically explain the beautiful view... Check out this exerpt from a homework problem in my computer vision class:

If one looks across a large bay in the daytime, it is often hard to distinguish the mountains on the opposite side; near sunset they are clearly visible. This phenomenon has to do with scattering of light by air--a large volume of air is actually a [light] source. Explain what is happening.

Not that you care, but I will let you know the answer once I get around to figuring it out (ostensibly before the Oct. 1 due date).

UPDATE (9/17): I think I solved the problem. It's pretty interesting. However, I realized that I can't post it before Oct. 1, because then it could be construed as providing an avenue for others to cheat. Just made me realize that though I am quite cognizant of the fact that this blog is world-readable, I tend to conceptualize it as more of a private forum. But enough with the meta-reasoning.