Years ago I was told that sometimes just as the sun drops below the horizon a green flash will be visible! Has anyone every heard of this before?.
Yes I’ve heard of it and yes it is true although fairly rare.
You need to watch the sun set on the ocean (or other suitably large body of water) and atmospheric conditions need to be just right.
As a result this is a fairly rare occurence but that does not stop islanders from making money selling sunset boat cruises in the hopes of catching it.
I’ve personally never witnessed this but I have seen pictures.
Damn, you, Manny. Here I was, all proud of myself for finding the cite first, and you beat me to it.
Thanks guys! That was fast! Dont you guys have jobs or family to go home to!!
I saw it for the first time this April over the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa. Was pretty cool because my dad had always talked about it, but I had never seen it. He’s been dead for a couple of years, so seeing it made me believe in God. No, of course not, but it was kinda neat. Mrs. D is an amateur astronomer, and many of her books/magazines discuss discuss the reasons for this phenomena, but such discussions make my tiny lawyer brain ache. I guess it has to do with the bending of the light rays. I guess by the time it looks like the sun has touched the horizon, in actuality the sun has already set, and you are seeing an afterimage caused by the light rays bending. I’ll stop now before I really flaunt my ignorance.
Oh yeah, what it looked like. It wasn’t like there was a green flash like lightning or anything, but when the sun was 3/4 or so down, it turned bright light green. Mrs. D. and I both saw it (and were both sober at the time).
Here’s a link to some pictures:
Way to go Mad Dog!
You’ve started two threads in General Questions since you’ve joined the Straight Dope Message Board, and both were already answered in columns by Cecil.
What’s next, “Is recycling worth it?”
Thanks Lance for your kind welcome.
Recycling? Yes it is worth it! We in Australia have been doing it for years. Maybe that is why it is one of the cleanest countries in the world.
Well enough of this time wasting.
Time to go for a real surf.
Thanks again!
I was surprised to see so many references to the fact that the green flash is most commonly seen at sea level. I remember one of the local TV meteorologists covering this question a year or two ago. He said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event at sea level, but it’s visible about once a month from the top of Mt. Washington (elevation 6288’). Curiouser and curiouser.
See “The Flying Circus of Physics” by Jearl Walker and M. Minnaert’s “The Nature of ight and Color in the Open Air” for cites on The Green Flash. (I know I’ve mentioned both books before, but they’re worth it!)
When I was teaching optics we used to assign students the problem of figuring out how long th green flash should last. It’s a complex problem.
I’ve been looking for it for years, and still havent seen it. Someone I knew was on an Antarctic expedition, an saw them frequently. I’m told that it’s a traditon to stand on the pier at Key West and look for the Green Flash as the un sinks into the Bay of Mexico. John D. MacDonald titled one of his books “Flash of Green” after the effect. It was made into a movie starring Ed Harris.
How’s that for a rapid run of free-association?
I’ve seen it. I was sailing in the North Atlantic, and I was determined to see the damn thing. I went out every day for several weeks and watched the sun go down - nothing.
Finally I gave up.
Two days later, I was walking along the deck, getting ready to go below for dinner when I happened to glance up just as the sun was setting. BANG! Green flash!
I was all excited, and trumpeted my achievement throughout the ship (actually, a brigantine), but no one cared! Hmph. They all just nodded and smiled indulgently. But it was cool, and now I can say I’m in the club.
Ayuh; I’ve seen the green flash numerous times when I lived in Hawaii. The condition had to be good and there couldn’t be cloud cover near the horizon. Having a boyfriend who was an avid surfer helped a lot (most weekends we were on the beach).
I’ve seen it at sunset on the West Coast of New Zealand. It was a few days after my baby son had died and it was kinda awesome to see something so rare at such a spectacularly ghastly time in my life
There are two movies named after this phenomenon: There’s the 1984 film A Flash of Green, directed by Victor Nunez, and there’s the 1986 film The Green Ray, directed by Eric Rohmer_.