Green Flash, is it real?

Yes, it's real, in the sense that it is a genuine physical phenomenon. I have never seen it but there are photographs and videos of it.

Now for the Really Annoying Bit.

My oldest son is a deck cadet in the Merchant Navy, he joined his first ship in Brazil and when asked to take his very first azimuth he saw the Green Flash!
 
temptress said:
So I have sailed in the tropics for many years and folks talk of a thing called the Green Flash. Apparently seen as the sun sets.

I have never seen this and have decided it is not a real event.

Anyone here ever actually seen this happen? If so what causes it?I
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It is real but you don't need to be in the tropics. Two of us sailing towards Honfleur this year. I looked down at just the wrong moment but my good friend saw it. I was anoyed, he was impressed!

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
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Very real, but best seen in warm, calm conditions, which will give good refraction close to the sea surface.

Spent many months steaming up and down the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and saw it most evenings. Not so much "was there a green flash tonight?" but "how good was the green flash tonight?" If you could see visible refraction on distant ships (such as extended superstructures or "islands" floating above them) during late afternoon , then you knew you were in for a cracker of a green flash at sunset.
 
Yes, see it once.

The key point is then when you do see it it happens so quickly, it is as if you brain has registered the flash and then it has happened, but you dont forget it.

Was definetely sober at the time!
 
We were in the Caribbean for six years and saw the Green flash 5 times, it is real but it is a very short flash so you need to be watching carefully as the top of the sun disappears in a clear sky.
 
Yes it's real, and I've seen it several times in the Caribbean. On one occasion, I even managed to photograph it! With the motor drive running, I took a sequence which showed the green tinges starting at the edges of what was left of the setting sun, gradually moving towards the centre until all that was left was the green flash. PBO even published one of the pictures (that would have been circa summer 2007) but I no longer have the mag to quote the date. If anyone has, it is on the letters page in response to a question similar to the OP's (and IIRC) possibly the July or August issue.
 
Yes, it's real. My fifth sighting was this year. I managed to capture it on video once, between La Palma and Santa Maria. Not the best I've seen and the camera did not capture it very well. Yes. I know, sounds a bit like 'how big was the fish you caught?', but seeing is believing.
 
I have often seen the green flash - sometimes it is quite spectacular, a definite green glow as the top of the sun slips below the horizon.
And not just in the Caribbean - I saw a brilliant green flash from the 20th floor rooftop bar of our hotel in San Diego a few years ago while having sundowner drinks looking out over the Pacific.
 
I've seen loads. Use the bins. I know health and safety might shoot me, but the added danger adds to the thrill. A totally clear horizon is required. It can only be seen after sundowners too. The eyes don't work at the right wavelength otherwise.
 
Zing said:
I've seen loads............. It can only be seen after sundowners too. The eyes don't work at the right wavelength otherwise.
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Not so, reference the sundowners.

In my impatient youth I was warming the bell by looking over the gyro repeater to take an amplitude on sun rise. A beautiful emerald colour on the horizon welcomed my day. Too early for the compass error; since the refraction effect requires the sun to be a semi-diameter above the horizon when the amplitude is taken. Nevertheless it was beautiful and all the more for being unexpected.
 
Good marketing from a restaurant in the Scillies.

"Come and watch for the green flash from our garden.

Didn't see it?. Never mind, try again tomorrow"
 
Saw my very first, last weekend, at Rhossili. Perfect, crystal clear evening with no clouds on the horizon, unusually. Sun went down majestically and JUST as the last vestige disappeared below the horizon, it all went dazzling emerald green. Utter joy.

Now, I've never seen the Northern Lights, so that's my next astronomical phenomenon goal. Green flash was worth waiting for.
 
Firs ttime was out mackerel fishing on a Newquay tripper boat (skipper told us it was possible that evening and to look) as a yoof so near 60 yrs ago. 2nd and 3rd times in the Western approaches on our way to Chenal Du four from Dartmouth. It is very brief and is very camera shy. Needs a clear atmosphere, no haze and calm sea helps. .
 
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Its real I've seen it many times, many more times when I haven't. I like to look for it when conditions seam right very clear.
Seen the Northern lights many times as well. Thought the best Aurora display. Ive seen was Aurora Australis, the southern lights.

One strange thing I've seen very occasionally was a Rainbow from Moon light.
It appears to be black and white. Though physics tells me it should be the same spectrum as a regular one. Just not bright enough for my eyes to detect the colors.

Which makes me think about refraction and the visable spectrum. Blue colors being the shorter wave length with red the longer. the green flash is real due to the blue wave lengths getting refracted more than the red, hence the blue and yellow giving a brief green flash.

So the question is which way round is a rainbow?
My thought. The Red should be closest to the straight un-refracted light going to blue which should be the furthest.
 
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