#Green flash

[theyoungwaldschrat]

This is the craziest photo I've ever taken and probably the craziest I'll ever take. It is the sun rising behind the alps and over the mountaintops a complex Fata Morgana mirage emerges. In all my years of photographing sunrises I have only seen Fata Morganas three times. The effect is produced by layers of air with different densities refracting the light differently and projecting mirror images of the mountains into the sky which fold back over on themselves multiple times. Because the mirror images are seen from a slightly lower (or effectively higher) point, you can sometimes see things in mirages that are normally hidden behind the horizon. And in this very lucky shot the hidden thing made visible is the elusive Green Flash!!! Another rare phenomenon at sunrise or sunset in which the last light of the sun may appear to flicker green. Both the Green Flash and the mirage are rare on their own, but this combination is almost certainly a once in a lifetime event.

Following this lucky shot I took a video of the rest of the sunrise where you can really see the distortion of the sun by the mirage

[1five1two]

[railwayhistorical]

Yet Another Attempt

The green flash: since seeing it last year (but not shooting it ‘cause I was not expecting it), I tried many times to photograph it in the following months. I made several trips over to the west side of Michigan but was thwarted by smoke from Canadian wildfires and/or clouds near the horizon line—every time. The green flash, in effect, became my white whale.

Recently, I heard about a comet, Pons-Brooks, and wanted to try to shoot that as I'd gotten a decent shot of Neowise several years ago. Going over to Lake Michigan would give me the best view to the west as it would be low toward the horizon. Then it hit me, if it’s totally clear at St. Joseph, I might as well try for the green flash prior to it getting dark for the comet.

While not an outstanding result, I'll take this given my earlier, fruitless attempts. By the way, the comet was a dud: a fuzz ball with no tail that I could discern, alas.

Four images by Richard Koenig; taken April 5th 2024.

[goodmorningglow]

I saw what looked like a green flash at sunset. The name of the phenomenon is "green" flash, but it is interesting that some areas appear blue or yellow.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A Multiple Green Flash Sunset: Yes, but can your green flash do this? A green flash at sunset is a rare event that many Sun watchers pride themselves on having seen. Once thought to be a myth, a green flash is now understood to occur when the Earth's atmosphere acts like both a prism and a lens. Different atmospheric layers create altitude-variable refraction that takes light from the top of the Sun and disperses its colors, creates two images, and magnifies it in just the right way to make a thin sliver appear green just before it disappears. Pictured, though, is an even more unusual sunset. From the high-altitude Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile one day last April, the Sun was captured setting beyond an atmosphere with multiple distinct thermal layers, creating several mock images of the Sun. This time and from this location, many of those layers produced a green flash simultaneously. Just seconds after this multiple-green-flash event was caught by two well-surprised astrophotographers, the Sun set below the clouds. Image Credit & Copyright: T. Slovinský & P. Horálek (IoP Opava); CTIO, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA   

[h/t Scott Horton]

* * * * *

"The Soul, secure in her existence. smiles at the drawn dagger and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself grow dim with age and nature sink in years, but thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amid the wars of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds." From 1713, “Cato” by Joseph Addison. This was the passage Edgar Allen Poe encrypted and challenged his readers to decipher in 1841. It was not until 1992 that a Duke University doctoral student succeeded. ∞(via metaconscious)

[therealmackenson10]

Rare moment at the beach this evening. Finally, after 32 years, I saw the green flash as the sun was setting. The folks next to me said they’ve been waiting their whole lives to see it.

[aikoiya]

DP HC - The Green Flash

At sunset, the sky sometimes lights up green. This is often called the Green Flash, Green Ray, the Mock Mirage, or M-Mir.

Scientifically speaking this flash is "as the sun sinks its rays start to pass through the temperature inversion. The action of the inversion is most easily understood by concentrating on the interface between the warmer layer and the cool more dense air beneath. Rays passing downwards through it are refracted so that they curve slightly towards the earth. The upper parallel sun ray glances through the inversion and is most strongly curved. To the eye, the ray appears to be coming from a point higher in the sky and it contributes to an upper (and inverted) image of the sun. The lower parallel ray is less deflected and contributes to a lower solar image. In a direction tangential to the base of the inversion layer small vertical differences in ray directions are highly magnified. The normally insignificant green rim of the sun is vertically stretched to produce a green flash."

But mythologically, it's said that this happens when a soul returns to Earth from the afterlife.

The truth is that the Green Flash takes place whenever the mnemonic imprint of a spirit from Earth journeying through the Infinite Realms erodes completely. At which point, they disappear from the IR & reappear back on Earth to be reincarnated as someone new.

This always happens at sundown & is usually due to a large number of souls returning at once. The reason why it's green is due to the burst of ectoplasmic energy that takes place when the unbound souls shift from one universe to another.

No one in the Living Realms knows why it has to happen like this, but when a soul is ready to reincarnate, it disappears, but doesn't immediately reappear in it's home universe. You see, it takes a lot of energy to breach the barrier between universes, so many reincarnating souls must gather, it's suspected in some form of pocket universe, & their soul magic, blue magic specifically which is associated with spacial/gravity magics & teleportation, builds up more & more until, with an ectoplasmic boost, there's enough to carry them all back.

No one knows, specifically, why reincarnating souls only return at sundown.

The truth of the matter is that rebirth deities such as Zagreus gather these souls & use soul magic to take them back to the Living Realms. This sudden appearance creates a great flash of green light in the sky due to the ectoplasm released in the area.

If you want to see my full Ghost Zone Masterlist, go here. You can find out more about ghosts & the reincarnation process from "Explaining the Ghost Zone," watch out, it's a long post.

[synalpheus]

A tiny bit of a green flash, observed on the South Atlantic. My first!

[doctorslippery]

I've experienced Golden Hour on Texas highways driving westward coming home from my mother's. There's a moment when you get a rainbow band right on the horizon. It's beautiful.

[13thpythagoras]

^this phenomena is real, I've seen it by Key West, Florida; but this above explanation is bs. Sorry farmers' almanac, here is some truth:

imho the real reason the green flash emerges is due to what scientists are finding in labs recently:

"The new study was initiated after the scientists reported seeing occasional flashes of green light while working with an infrared laser."

^ this lab that works with infrared lasers has technicians report ocasionally seeing GREEN FLASHES OF LIGHT in the (otherwise invisible) laser as the ultraviolet wavelengths occasionally stack onto each other via quantum properties(??), constructively interfering, and somehow making neon-green light. Now look at me I sound like that farmer's almanac explanation! haha but I am sure the green flash has do with infrared light waves interfering with each other and degrading into green somehow.

Clearly this phenomenon is more than just a biological trick, since cameras pick up the green flash too... more research is needed about how this happens but it seems the infrared light is constructively interfering with itself and flipping to bright green. Very beautiful and I think super interesting!...

[lovelylonelymoonlight]

Bruce unintentionally dissing the league while praising his kids is so funny to me

Bruce: we need an expert marksman for this job

Oliver: *getting ready to stand up to fully accept Bruce’s praise*

Bruce: Redhood will be here shortly. We also need someone quick on their feet. Luckily Cass is working on a case nearby so we can ask her

[sully-s]

Listen, if I had the time I would just make Justice Leauge the mockumentary, lol.

[bats-and-the-birds]

Been thinking about a Batfam meets the Justice League situation where Nightwing has been in the League for a bit a no one knows how he's connected to Batman. And for one reason or another, the League grudgingly needs Deathstroke's help for a mission. And Deathstroke agrees to help, but specifies "no Bats".

And the Justice League assumes he just means "no Batman". So the bring Nightwing with them, and also do not tell him about this stipulation.

-the justice league approaches Deathstroke on a rooftop-

-Deathstroke immidiately turns to leave-

Green Arrow: Wait, I thought you agreed to help us!

Deathstroke: And I thought you agreed no Bats.

Flash: We did! We left Bats back at the Watchtower.

Deathstroke: No. No Bats. Plural. Not only did you disobey me, you brought the worst of the bunch.

Nightwing: Aw, and here I thought I was your favorite.

[fakeicecubes]

Reasons why the rest of the JL believes Batman and all of his children are metas/cryptids

-Weirdly good instincts

-They only see the bat and kids at night

-Hasn’t died

-If they have died, they came back within the year

-The JL has seen all of them at one point or another stay up for 96 hours straight and act semi-normally

-One time Batman was stabbed and started bleeding green(it was slime Bruce packed for kids to play with if they were at a crime scene)

-Red Robin didn’t cry while watching A Dogs Purpose for Young Justice’s movie night(he did, the mask hid his tears)

-They all know an absurd amount of Golf facts

-Somehow none of them age

-All of them are friends with a super

Wonder Women has the list and they update it after every mission.

[xipiti]

Woo, horizon was actually clear enough to see the green flash at sunset! Not as good a color as I’ve ever seen, but not bad.

[popping-greenbean]

flinging your friends over your shoulder like potato sack. dangling them by the scruff stacking them up in your arms like laundry shoving them into your purse etc etc i love it

---

from this screenshot from 'starcrossed'