Flash of light: reasons for appearance

Those who have ever followed the sunset until the very last moment when the upper edge of the disk touches the horizon and then completely disappears, they could see an amazing natural phenomenon. At that moment, in the conditions of clear weather and the transparent sky, it shines its amazing last ray.

general information

For our eyes, the atmosphere appears as a huge air prism, turned down its base. In the sun, the horizon looks through the gas prism. At the top, the solar disk receives a green and blue border, and below it a yellow-red one.

At a time when the Sun is above the horizon, its brightness, the light of the disc interrupts less bright colored strips, so we do not notice them. However, when the sun rises and sets, when the disc is almost hidden behind the horizon, you can see the rim of the blue color of its upper edge. And it is two-color: below - a blue strip (from mixing of green and blue rays), and above - blue.

What is the name of the flash of light at the time of the disappearance of the solar disk? This optical phenomenon can be found in more detail by reading this article.

A little about the optical phenomena associated with the sun

The spectrum of sun rays, consisting of a huge variety of colors, is continuous. Violet, blue, blue and green rays have a property of refraction in the earth's atmosphere stronger than red and yellow. This is connected with the fact that the first rays appearing at the sunrise (green and blue) are the last rays of the sun at sunset.

The blue beam is hardly observed in the atmosphere because of its strong dispersion. The same and green ray is an extremely rare phenomenon, manifested as a green flash of light at the time of the disappearance of the sun beyond the horizon or, conversely, its appearance from beyond the horizon.

A rare natural phenomenon or an optical illusion?

A lot of legends are composed about the famous magic "Green Ray" from the earliest times. Basically this is a tale of happiness.

Many peoples have a tradition according to which those who see the "Green Ray" at the last moment of the sunset will forever find a rich and happy destiny that brings only joy in life.

The lucky ones are mostly travelers and seafarers. Even the famous writer Jules Verne in his novel called "Green Ray" presented a wonderful phenomenon of nature. His many characters were eager to see this miracle, to become thanks to him as lords of destinies and to possess huge treasures.

In many known cases, a green flash of light beyond the horizon appears for a brief moment, like a fairy-tale ghost.

The story of the Green Ray

There is about the "Green Ray" passing from generation to generation a very curious story. She was once heard by a famous businessman and could not forget. It so happened that his business was greatly shaken. No one took his goods, so he was in deep despair.

Once, trying all the ways to improve his situation, he accidentally remembered that legend and went on a trip across the sea to calm down and get the maximum benefit from pleasant impressions. There was also a hope that he would be lucky to see the magic "Green ray of happiness" and get rich. He invited to travel and his friends who agreed to a fairly long voyage.

Every day they watched the sun go down. A week has passed, but no one has seen this miracle. Desperate, they already stopped watching the sunset, but the businessman himself was patient with this activity and did not miss a single evening. With obsession, he went out every night to the deck as a job.

A flash of light occurred. His patience and perseverance were generously rewarded. Fabulous-beautiful glow of green color on the edge of the disc of the passing sun, he still saw. The sight made him indescribable delight. He was for a time in a real euphoric shock, because he achieved his goal. Then, after seeing the miracle, he returned home, after which his affairs went on the mend. And he connected it all with that very beautiful ray of happiness.

Literally after a short period of time he became fabulously rich. Accompanying his travel friends began to regret that they were lazy and did not go to the deck on that memorable evening. Apparently, the green happy ray illuminates the path only to the select - persevering and patient.

What is the name of the flash of light?

The characteristic color of the sunset is due to the properties of refraction and scattering of sunlight in the atmospheric layers of the Earth.

Little is known about the optical phenomenon, which is called the "green ray". It occurs during the sunset and is also associated with the passage of light in the earth's atmosphere. This is the most unique natural phenomenon - the appearance of green light that manifests itself in extremely rare cases and only in some places.

Where can I see?

For the most part, see the green beam succeeds over the water surface of the ocean or the sea. It manifests itself only a moment. In the central part of Russia, it can be observed exceptionally rarely and only with the combination of almost all favorable factors.

The most ideal place to observe, except the water surface of the seas and oceans, can be the steppe, the desert and the mountains.

Conditions and obstacles

To see a very rare unusual optical phenomenon with our own eyes, we need an open horizon, pure air and the absence of clouds. Such a miracle can be seen every day in the presence of all these conditions.

The main obstacle for observing the mysterious green ray is its scattering on suspended particles of dust, fog, smoke and other natural air pollution, as well as inhomogeneities in airspace.

In addition to the above, the length from the point of entry of sunlight into the atmosphere of the Earth to the place of observation should be considerable, therefore, as noted above, it is best to observe a similar phenomenon at sunrise and sunset on large water spaces.

A flash of green light in the wooded area and in the steppe is almost invisible.

In addition to the above conditions for the detection of such an unusual phenomenon, there should be no ascending convection currents in the atmosphere.

Origin

Only for a few seconds does a flash of light. At the time of the disappearance of the solar circle, the so-called refraction of the sun's rays in the atmosphere occurs. Passing through the atmosphere rays of light, distorted, decompose into several basic colors. This happens because red rays are refracted less than green and blue. The angle of refraction of the rays increases as the Sun approaches the horizon.

With a quiet calm state of the atmosphere, the "stretching" of the spectrum from the highest (purple) to the red (lower) edge reaches 30 ". On such a long path through the lower atmospheric layers, a large mass of orange and yellow rays is absorbed by oxygen molecules and water vapor, and blue and violet are much weakened by scattering. Therefore, basically green and red remain, which leads to the fact that two discs of the Sun, red (mostly) and green, become visible, but they do not completely overlap each other. In this connection, at the very last moment, before disappearing beyond the horizon of the disk, just when its red part is just below the horizon, for some short time the upper edge of the green strip is visible. With very clean air, a blue ray can be seen. A green ray can be seen even at sunrise.

On the Signs of a Unique Phenomenon

GA Tikhov (Pulkovo Astronomer) devoted a special study to the "green ray", thanks to which he defined some signs in which it is possible to see this phenomenon of nature.

1. If at sunset the sun has a reddish color and it is easy to observe with a simple eye, then you can be sure that the green ray does not manifest itself. The reason is clear: such a bright color of the disc indicates that there was a strong scattering in the atmosphere of green and blue rays (the entire upper edge of the disk).

2. If the Sun does not change its habitual whitish-yellow color and goes very bright beyond the horizon (this means that the absorption of rays in the atmospheric layers is small). In this case, there is a high probability that a flash of light will occur, you can see a green beam. But for this it is important that the horizon has a sharp, straight line, without buildings, forests, etc. Therefore, this ray is well known to many seafarers.

Conclusion

In southern countries, the sky is much more transparent in the horizon than in the more northern, so a flash of light ("green beam") is observed there more often. And in Russia it is not so rare that it happens, as many think, perhaps under the influence of the writer Jules Verne.

In any case, persevering and patient searches for the "green ray" are rewarded with success. Some managed to catch this fascinating phenomenon, even in a conventional telescope.