6/1/2004: Green flash at sunrise

mrputter · 06-01-2004, 08:28 PM

<EM>> it looks like the red, orange, yellow, green part of</EM>

Well, that kinda makes sense to me. Given the curvature of the Earth, the sun's rays are hitting the atmosphere at different angles as you move up from the horizon, and since the different bands of the spectrum have different refractive indices, you'd be getting a different colour band being refracted towards the camera at the different angles.

So in other words, the Earth's atmosphere is basically acting as a giant prism (or lens, depending on how you look -- har, har -- at it) in this picture.

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06-01-2004, 08:28 PM	#6
mrputter Superior Inhabitant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 71	<EM>> it looks like the red, orange, yellow, green part of</EM> Well, that kinda makes sense to me. Given the curvature of the Earth, the sun's rays are hitting the atmosphere at different angles as you move up from the horizon, and since the different bands of the spectrum have different refractive indices, you'd be getting a different colour band being refracted towards the camera at the different angles. So in other words, the Earth's atmosphere is basically acting as a giant prism (or lens, depending on how you look -- har, har -- at it) in this picture.

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