How does a Bolivian lagoon appear rusty orange from space?

A Bolivian lagoon can look rusty orange from space because of the special way light travels through water and dirt.

Imagine you're playing in a puddle on a rainy day, and you drop some red clay into it. The water turns a bit red, like when you mix paint. Now imagine that puddle is really big, so big that astronauts can see it from their spaceship. That's what happens with the lagoon: it has lots of red soil mixed in with the water, making it look like it’s been painted with orange or rust.

When light goes through the water and dirt, some parts of the light get absorbed (like when your favorite crayon color disappears into a dark spot), and some parts shine through, especially the red part. This is why we see an orange or rusty color from above.

It's like when you look at a bowl of soup with tomato sauce in it, it looks reddish from the top, even if the whole soup isn’t red all the way through. The lagoon’s water and dirt work together to make that rusty orange look that astronauts can see from far away!