Green Flash = Fact or Fiction?

temptress

temptress

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Sitting in Bequia watching the sun go down and no green flash. I have watched sunsets in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic tropics for 20 years and never seen a green flash. Others claim to see them. Is this the product of one too many sun-downers or do they actually exist?
 
temptress said:
Sitting in Bequia watching the sun go down and no green flash. I have watched sunsets in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic tropics for 20 years and never seen a green flash. Others claim to see them. Is this the product of one too many sun-downers or do they actually exist?
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Don t blink or you'll miss it. It was seen somewhere in the UK recently by some folk!!!!
 
It certainly exists, though it may be an optical illusion caused by the last rays of the sun affecting ones retina...

I've seen the phenomenon many times in the tropics; even at dawn, which is damn tricky to spot. One one notable occasion SWMBO and I caught sight of a green flash in the North Sea. Needs perfect visibility, not the trace of any cloud etc. Sometimes you get multiple flashes as the boat heaves on the swell.
 
I've seen it a couple of times - oddly enough both times at dawn on the way to the Caribbean when my eyes were fully adjusted to dim light so got the sun through the horizon in clear green, then utterly overwhelmed by the tiniest bit of the sun coming up a second or two later.

It's real though - Youtube evidence is there so it can't be an artifact of our own eyes.
 
I've seen some so-called "green flashes" but apparently there are different types, some lasting less than a second (which I've seen a dozen or more times) and some up to 15 seconds (which I haven't, ever) , or so it sez on the web. The shorter ones can hardly be called "flashes" but the dying moment of a sunset give a green "dot". Did you miss it? Aw, you missed it...
 
True, saw one cruising back to Jersey a few years ago. Flat calm perfect day, sun going down & was just telling wife about the flash when it happened.

Quite magical & never forgotten. I had thought it was a tropical thing before but it must just need everything to be exactly right.
 
Saw my first at 11 years old, out on a tripper fishing boat from Newquay in cornwall. have since seen two when at sea crossing from Dartmouth to Chenal du Four on our way to S Britanny. As said conditions have to be exactly right, clear and haze free right down to the horizon, not often found, and it has to be very calm, no swell. we even saw one once when at anchor off Isle d'Houat in the golfe de Morbihan the beach anchorage on Belle Isle side of Houat, not the usual big anchorage, the former is the other side of a headland and allowed a direct view of the setting sun over water and clear ofany land interference.

Mond you there were many times Ipredicted a possible sighting to crew and nothing occurred and I wasted many frames of 35mm camera film over the years..
 
The trick is to find a West-facing location with a long flight of steps (stairs). When you see the flash, proceed to jog up the steps and thus prolong the effect.

Of course I haven't tried this!!!!
 
I had arranged a boating/BBQ for the roundtable at the local yacht club and after a few beers and plenty of sausages etc I explained that as it was a clear evening there might be a chance to see the 'green flash'. The sound of twenty or so chaps cheering and clapping confirmed that I alone was not seeing things. Amazing on the west coast of Wales.
 
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