Encyclopedia > Green ray

  Article Content

Green ray

The Green Ray or Green Flash occures shortly after sunset or even at dawn. Just as the sun sets/rises, a green ray shoots up. This is a rare optical phenomenon.

Its explanation lies in refraction of light in the atmosphere and is enhanced by atmospheric layering. It is usually observed from a low altitude where there is an unobstructed view of the horizon, such as on the ocean. Whilst we would expect to see a blue light, the blue is dispersed (this is why the sky is blue)and the green flash is visible from a fraction of a second to a couple of seconds duration.

With slight magnification the effect can be see on the top limb of the solar disk on most clear-day sunsets. However the flash effect requires a stronger layering of the atmosphere.

External links:

green flash (http://www.weather-photography.com/Photos/gallery.php?cat=optics&subcat=green_flash)



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Ludvika

... is a municipality in central Sweden, in the county of Dalarna. The municipality covers an area of 1500.7 km². Of the total population of 26450, 13112 are male, and ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 47.3 ms