The photo sequence above shows a distorted and fiery moonrise over Two Lights State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
I couldn’t help but notice the Moon’s inverted image (inferior mirage) as it rose on the evening of January 27, 2013 — one day past the full Moon. As the Moon ascended slightly higher, its inverted image disappeared.
Refraction in the lower atmosphere, due to a steep temperature gradient with height, was responsible for this distortion, referred to as the Etruscan vase or Omega effect. When the Moon emerged over the horizon, its inferior mirage appeared below and seemed to reach up to grab the Moon, producing the omega shape.
If you look very closely you can detect a green rim on the top of the Moon (green flash), especially on the third and sixth image in the sequence. — Photography & Summary: John Stetson; Jim Foster
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Layers of different temperature in the atmosphere creates a distorted image of the sun when it’s near the horizon.
As the sun’s image sinks through these layers it is miraged into fantastical ever changing shapes. Seconds before the sunset, the Green Flash atmospheric phenomena is visible (note the green light on the sun’s upper limb).
Difficult to observe, the momentary green flash above the rising or setting sun has been documented as a phenomenon caused by the atmospheric bending or refraction of sunlight. Like a weak prism, the Earth’s atmosphere breaks white sunlight into colors, bending red colors slightly and green and blue colors through increasingly larger angles.
Venus Transit Green Flash
by Kevin Moore
Green Flash
Copyright: Mauricio López E.
Green Flash
Optical phenomena that occur shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when a green spot is visible, usually for no more than a second or two, above the sun, or it may resemble a green ray shooting up from the sunset point.
by Emil Ivanov
The Elusive Green Flash in Costa Rica
Copyright: Michael Crane
