A green beam of light from the car. Emerald sunset - a miracle of physics

"Have you ever observed the Sun setting below the horizon of the sea? Yes, without a doubt. Have you followed it to the moment when the upper edge of the disk touches the horizon and then disappears? Probably yes. But have you noticed the phenomenon what happens at the moment when a radiant body casts its last ray, if at the same time the sky is free from clouds and completely transparent? Perhaps not. Do not miss the opportunity to make such an observation: it is not a red ray that will hit your eye, but a green, marvelous green a color that no artist can achieve on his palette and that nature itself does not reproduce, neither in the various shades of vegetation, nor in the color of the most transparent sea."

A similar note in one newspaper delighted the young heroine of Jules-Verne’s novel “The Green Ray” and prompted her to undertake a series of trips with the sole purpose of seeing the green ray with her own eyes. The young traveler was not able, as the novelist narrates, to observe this beautiful natural phenomenon. But it still exists. The green ray is not a legend, although there are many legendary things associated with it. This is a phenomenon that every nature lover can admire if he searches for it with due patience.

Why does the green beam appear?

You will understand the reason for the phenomenon if you remember how objects appear to us when we look at them through a glass prism. Do this experiment: hold the prism horizontally near your eye, wide side down, and look through it at a piece of paper pinned on the wall. You will notice that the leaf, firstly, has risen significantly above its true position, and, secondly, has a violet-blue border at the top and a yellow-red border at the bottom. The rise depends on the refraction of light, the colored edges depend on the dispersion of the glass, i.e. the properties of the glass unequally refract rays different color. Violet and blue rays are refracted more strongly than others - that’s why we see a violet-blue border at the top; red ones refract the weakest, and therefore the bottom edge of our piece of paper has a red border.

For a better understanding of what follows, it is necessary to dwell on the origin of these colored borders. The prism decomposes the white light emanating from the paper into all the colors of the spectrum, giving many colored images of the paper sheet, arranged, partly overlapping one another, in the order of refraction. From the simultaneous action of these superimposed color images, the eye receives a sensation of white color (the addition of spectral colors), but borders of non-mixing colors appear at the top and bottom. The famous poet Goethe, who performed this experiment and did not understand its meaning, imagined that he had thus exposed the falsity of Newton’s teaching about colors, and then wrote his own “Science of Colors,” which is almost entirely based on false ideas. Our reader, we must assume, will not repeat the poet’s misconceptions and will not expect that the prism will recolor all objects for him.

The earth's atmosphere appears to our eyes as if it were a huge air prism, with its base facing downwards. Looking at the Sun at the horizon, we look at it through a gas prism. The disk of the Sun receives a blue and green border at the top, and a red-yellow border at the bottom. While the Sun is above the horizon, the light of the disk with its brightness interrupts much less bright colored stripes, and we do not notice them at all. But at the moments of sunrise and sunset, when almost its entire disk is hidden under the horizon, we can see the blue border of the upper edge. It is two-color: there is a blue stripe above, and a blue stripe below, from a mixture of blue and green rays. When the air near the horizon is completely clean and transparent, we see a blue border - a “blue ray”. But more often the blue rays are scattered by the atmosphere, and only a green border remains: the phenomenon of the “green ray”. Finally, in most cases, blue and green rays are also scattered by the turbid atmosphere - then no edge is noticed. The sun sets like a crimson ball.

Pulkovo astronomer G. A. Tikhov, who dedicated a special study to the “green ray”, reports some signs of the visibility of this phenomenon. “If the Sun has a red color at sunset and is easy to look at with the naked eye, then we can say with confidence that there will be no green ray.” The reason is clear: the red color of the solar disk indicates strong scattering of blue and green rays by the atmosphere, i.e., the entire upper rim of the disk. “On the contrary,” the astronomer continues, “if the Sun has changed little from its usual whitish-yellow color and sets very bright (that is, if the absorption of light by the atmosphere is small.- Ya.P.), That. you can most likely expect a green beam. But here it is precisely important that the horizon be a sharp line, without any irregularities, nearby forests, buildings, etc. These conditions are best met at sea; That's why the green ray is so well known to sailors."

So, to see the “green ray”, you need to observe the Sun at the moment of sunset or sunrise in a very clear sky. In southern countries the sky near the horizon is more transparent than ours; therefore, the phenomenon of the “green ray” is observed there more often. But in our country it is not so rare; as many think, probably under the influence of the novel by Jules Verne. Persistent searches for the “green ray” are sooner or later rewarded with success. It happened to catch this beautiful phenomenon even through a spotting scope. Two Alsatian astronomers describe such an observation as follows.

... "In the last minute before sunset, when, therefore, a noticeable part of it is still visible, the disk, which has a wave-like moving but sharply defined border, is surrounded by a green rim.

Until the Sun has completely set, this rim is not visible to the naked eye. It becomes visible only at the moment the Sun completely disappears below the horizon. If you look through a telescope with a sufficiently strong magnification (about 100 times), you can trace all the phenomena in detail: the green border becomes noticeable at the latest 10 minutes before sunset; it limits the upper part of the disc, while a red border is observed from the lower part. The width of the border, at first very small (only a few seconds of arc), increases as the Sun sets; it sometimes reaches up to half a minute of arc. Above the green rim, green protrusions are often observed, which, with the gradual disappearance of the Sun, seem to slide along its edge to the highest point; sometimes they come off the rim and glow separately for several seconds until they go out" (Fig. 126).

Rice. 126. Long-term observation of the “green ray”; the observer saw a “green beam” behind the mountain range for 5 minutes. Above to the right is a “green beam” visible through a telescope. The disk of the Sun has irregular contours. In position 1, the glare of the sun's disk blinds the eye and makes it difficult to see the green border with the naked eye. In position 2, when the disk of the Sun almost disappears, the “green ray” becomes accessible to the naked eye

Usually the phenomenon lasts for a second or two. But in exceptional circumstances, its duration is noticeably lengthened. There was a case when the “green beam” was observed for more than 5 minutes. The sun was setting behind a distant mountain, and a quickly walking observer saw the green border of the solar disk, as if sliding along the mountainside (Fig. 126).

Cases of observing a “green ray” during sunrise The sun, when the upper edge of the luminary begins to appear from under the horizon. This refutes the often expressed guess that the “green ray” is an optical illusion to which the eye, tired of the bright shine of the just setting sun, succumbs.

The sun is not the only luminary that sends out a “green ray”. It happened to see this phenomenon generated by setting Venus; There are two known observations of this kind.

Like some other phenomena of atmospheric optics, the "green ray" is not explained in detail. The reason is that it attracted the attention of physicists relatively recently and is represented by an insufficient number of observations. Detailed eyewitness reports will undoubtedly benefit science; conscientious observations from friends of physics are highly desirable here.

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences V. TIMOSHENKO.

Green ray on the Baltic Sea.

Diagram of refraction of a solar ray. A sunbeam in the Earth's atmosphere experiences refraction - it is refracted, as in a glass prism.

Ray-like
emerald,
Golden happiness
key -
I'll get it again
My green
weak beam...
N. Zabolotsky

Each of us has repeatedly seen how the solar disk disappears behind the horizon in the red sunset sky. The characteristic color of a sunset is due to the refraction and scattering of sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere (see "Science and Life" No. 9, 1993). However, few people know about another optical phenomenon, which also occurs at sunset and is associated with the propagation of light in the earth's atmosphere - the appearance of a green ray. This unique natural event can be observed when the horizon line is far away and the air is crystal clear. In most cases, the green beam can be seen only for a moment over the surface of the sea or ocean, and only sometimes in the mountains. Its appearance in central Russia is an extremely rare event and is possible only with a successful combination of a large number of favorable factors. The author of this article was able to observe and photograph a green beam on the Volga, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Most often, the green beam was observed by sailors during long voyages and they believed that its appearance was a good omen, a sign of a successful completion of the journey. People believed that those who were lucky enough to see a green ray would find their happiness. There is a legend retold by Jules Verne in the novel “The Green Ray”, according to which “those who are lucky enough to see a green ray at least once will become the owner of an invaluable treasure, the name of which is “heartfelt insight.” And then the person will not be afraid of any misconceptions and illusions , for he will be able to read without difficulty in his own heart and in the hearts of others." The bright blue-green colors of the flare at the edge of the Sun leave lasting impressions and memories that will last a lifetime. They inspired the poet Nikolai Zabolotsky, who observed a green ray on the Baltic Sea, to write a poem, a stanza from which is taken as an epigraph to this article.

Skeptics consider the green beam to be fiction or an optical illusion. Some believe that this is a reaction of the human eye, tired of contemplating the sun. It is for the latter that the famous popularizer of science Ya. I. Perelman in his book “Entertaining Physics” not only explains in detail the cause of the natural phenomenon “green ray”, but also provides facts that refute various misconceptions about this. But only in our time, when photographic technology makes it possible to capture numerous cases of the appearance of a green ray, it seems that doubts should leave skeptics.

The reasons for this extraordinary spectacle can be easily understood based on the knowledge acquired in high school. It is known that sunlight consists of a set of electromagnetic waves, each of which has its own frequency and length. A wave of a certain frequency is perceived by the human eye as a color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting). Red color has the longest wavelength in this spectrum, approximately 0.7-0.6 micrometers. For green and violet, the wavelength is approximately 0.5 and 0.4 micrometers, respectively. Despite such seemingly small differences in wavelength, rays of different colors propagate differently in matter, in particular, they have different speeds. The dependence of the speed of light waves in matter on their length or frequency is a manifestation of a more general dependence of the speed of response of matter to the frequency of oscillations of the electric field in a light wave. In physics, this phenomenon is called dispersion. In most substances and environments, including the earth's atmosphere, red light travels at a higher speed than blue-green light. This relationship, called normal dispersion, corresponds to lower refractive indices for red light than for blue-green light. Let us recall that the refractive index is a quantity that shows how much the speed of light in matter v is less than in vacuum: n = c/v, where c ≈ 3 10 8 m/s is the speed of light in vacuum.

The second thing that is necessary to understand the phenomenon is knowledge of the law of light refraction. According to this law, when light falls obliquely onto the boundary of media with different refractive indices, the light beam deviates from the original direction of propagation, that is, it is refracted. When a light beam enters a medium with a larger n value from a region with a smaller n value, for example from a vacuum, where n = 1, the angle of refraction is always less than the angle of incidence. Recall that both angles are measured from the normal (perpendicular) to the interface between the regions. Since the refractive indices for waves of different lengths are different, the angles of refraction will be different, namely: red light will be refracted less than green. This, in particular, is the reason for the decomposition of white light into a spectrum when it is passed through a glass prism. A similar decomposition of sunlight into a spectrum also occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere. However, it is observed only in isolated cases and in special places. Thus, when the sun sets or rises, its rays, visible to an observer on Earth, fall obliquely from outer space (vacuum). Since the density of the atmosphere increases as it approaches the Earth's surface, the refractive index of light also increases. Light, spreading from space to the earth's surface, is constantly refracted, and therefore decomposed into a spectrum, and, as in a glass prism, the rays of red light are refracted the least. Although the difference in refractive indices for red and blue-green light rays in the atmosphere is extremely small, at large distances (hundreds of kilometers) the effect of their separation is quite observable. This is precisely the reason for the appearance of the green ray. Indeed, while the sun is actually below the horizon and its red rays pass above the observer, shorter wavelength green rays, more strongly deflected, can be seen. Of course, blue, indigo and violet rays, which have an even shorter wavelength, are refracted much more strongly, but it is almost impossible to see them: they are very strongly scattered and absorbed in the earth’s atmosphere.

The main obstacle to observing the green beam is scattering from suspended particles of fog, dust, smoke and other terrestrial air pollution, as well as from atmospheric irregularities. In addition, as already mentioned, the path length of sunlight from the point of entry into the Earth's atmosphere to the observation point must be quite large. All these conditions are most easily met when observing sunset or sunrise over large expanses of water. It is almost impossible to see a green ray in the steppe or in a wooded area. The fact that this phenomenon could be observed on the Volga, in central Russia, is most likely due to exceptionally favorable weather conditions, as well as the successful choice of time and place of observation. This happened at the very beginning of May, when, due to the late spring, mass flowering of plants had not yet begun. The weather was clear and cool, the air was clean and transparent. I was on the Volga embankment, right behind the place where the Oka flows into it, behind the so-called spit. From this point the Volga can be seen for a long distance upstream.

Even understanding all the physical reasons and the natural origin of the green ray, it is difficult to get rid of the strong emotional impact. Therefore, like sailors and poets, I want to believe that the appearance of this miracle of nature over the Volga, in the very heart of Russia, will serve as a good omen for the country and the people living in it.

Literature

Zaerman M. Green ray in the Kara Sea.- "Science and Life", 1980, No. 12, p. 109.

Minnart M. Light and color in nature.- M., 1969.

Perelman Ya. Entertaining physics.- M., 1972.

Poulyanov V. Green ray in the Red Sea.- "Science and Life", 1993, No. 8, p. 27.

Urbanchik A. Green ray of the Sun.- "Science and Life", 1989, No. 12, p. 94.

Illustration "Green ray on the Baltic Sea."
On the horizon you can discern the contours of a bridge across the Volga, located several kilometers before the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. Apparently, the distance from the horizon to the observation point turned out to be sufficient to separate the refracted solar rays into a spectrum. This is how I saw the green beam.

A ray like an emerald, the key of golden happiness - I will still get it, My green weak ray... N. Zabolotsky

I bet that each of us has repeatedly seen the red sky at sunset. Its characteristic color is caused by the refraction and scattering of sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere. However, few people have ever seen such an amazing sight - green sunset. This natural event can be observed when the horizon line is far away and the air is crystal clear. In most cases, the green beam can be seen only for a moment over the surface of the sea or ocean, and only sometimes in the mountains. Its appearance in central Ukraine is an extremely rare event and is possible only with a successful combination of a large number of favorable factors. The author of this photograph was able to observe and take a picture of the green beam.

Basically, the lucky ones who had the opportunity to see this are sailors. They believe that his appearance is a good omen, a sign of a successful completion of the journey. People believed that whoever saw the green ray would find happiness. Bright flashes of blue-green color at the edge of the Sun leave indelible impressions and memories for a lifetime.

Skeptics consider the green beam to be fiction or an optical illusion. Some believe that this is a reaction of the human eye, tired of contemplating the sun. It is for the latter that the famous popularizer of science Ya. I. Perelman in his book “Entertaining Physics” not only explains in detail the cause of the natural phenomenon “green ray”, but also provides facts that refute various misconceptions about this. And in our time, when photographic technology makes it possible to capture numerous cases of the appearance of a green ray, doubts, it seems, should leave the skeptics.

The reasons for this extraordinary spectacle easy to explain based on knowledge gained in high school. It is known that sunlight consists of a set of electromagnetic waves, each of which has its own frequency and length. A wave of a certain frequency is perceived by the human eye as a color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting). Red color has the longest wavelength in this spectrum, approximately 0.7-0.6 micrometers. For green and violet, the wavelength is approximately 0.5 and 0.4 micrometers, respectively. Despite such seemingly small differences in wavelength, rays of different colors propagate differently in matter, in particular, they have different speeds. The dependence of the speed of light waves in matter on their length or frequency is a manifestation of a more general dependence of the speed of response of matter to the frequency of oscillations of the electric field in a light wave. In physics, this phenomenon is called dispersion. In most substances and environments, including the earth's atmosphere, red light travels at a higher speed than blue-green light. This relationship, called normal dispersion, corresponds to lower refractive indices for red light than for blue-green light. Let us recall that the refractive index is a quantity that shows how much the speed of light in matter v is less than in vacuum: n = c/v, where c ≈ 3 108 m/s is the speed of light in vacuum.

And if you also know law of light refraction, everything is generally simple. According to this law, when light falls obliquely onto the boundary of media with different refractive indices, the light beam deviates from the original direction of propagation, that is, it is refracted. When a light beam enters a medium with a larger n value from a region with a smaller n value, for example from a vacuum, where n = 1, the angle of refraction is always less than the angle of incidence. Recall that both angles are measured from the normal (perpendicular) to the interface between the regions. Since the refractive indices for waves of different lengths are different, the angles of refraction will be different, namely: red light will be refracted less than green. This, in particular, is the reason for the decomposition of white light into a spectrum when it is passed through a glass prism. A similar decomposition of sunlight into a spectrum also occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere. However, it is observed only in isolated cases and in special places. Thus, when the sun sets or rises, its rays, visible to an observer on Earth, fall obliquely from outer space (vacuum). Since the density of the atmosphere increases as it approaches the Earth's surface, the refractive index of light also increases. Light, spreading from space to the earth's surface, is constantly refracted, and therefore decomposed into a spectrum, and, as in a glass prism, the rays of red light are refracted the least. Although the difference in refractive indices for red and blue-green light rays in the atmosphere is extremely small, at large distances (hundreds of kilometers) the effect of their separation is quite observable. This is precisely the reason for the appearance of the green ray. Indeed, while the sun is actually below the horizon and its red rays pass above the observer, shorter wavelength green rays, more strongly deflected, can be seen. Of course, blue, indigo and violet rays, which have an even shorter wavelength, are refracted much more strongly, but it is almost impossible to see them: they are very strongly scattered and absorbed in the earth’s atmosphere.

The main obstacle to seeing the green beam- scattering on suspended particles of fog, dust, smoke and other terrestrial air pollution, as well as on atmospheric inhomogeneities. In addition, as already mentioned, the path length of sunlight from the point of entry into the Earth's atmosphere to the observation point must be quite large. All these conditions are most easily met when observing sunset or sunrise over large expanses of water. It is almost impossible to see a green ray in the steppe or in a wooded area. Even understanding all the physical reasons and the natural origin of the green ray, it is difficult to get rid of the strong emotional impact. Therefore, like sailors and poets, I want to believe that the appearance of this miracle of nature will serve as a good omen for the country and the people living in it.

Green beam- an optical phenomenon, a flash of green light at the moment the solar disk disappears beyond the horizon (usually the sea) or appears from behind the horizon.

A note in an English newspaper from Jules Verne's novel "The Green Ray"

Such a note delighted the young heroine of Jules Verne’s novel “The Green Ray” and prompted her to undertake a series of trips with the sole purpose of seeing the green ray with her own eyes. The young Scotswoman failed, as the novelist narrates, to observe this beautiful natural phenomenon. But it still exists. The green ray is not a legend, although there are many legendary things associated with it. This is a phenomenon that every nature lover can admire if he searches for it with due patience. Why does the green beam appear?
You will understand the reason for the phenomenon if you remember how objects appear to us when we look at them through a glass prism. Do this experiment: hold a prism horizontally near your eye with its wide side down and look through it at a piece of paper pinned on the wall. You will notice that the leaf, firstly, has risen significantly above its true position, and secondly, it has a violet-blue border at the top and a yellow-red border at the bottom. The rise depends on the refraction of light, the colored edges depend on the dispersion of the glass, i.e. the properties of glass to refract rays of different colors differently. Violet and blue rays are refracted more strongly than others, so we see a violet-blue border at the top; red ones refract the weakest, and therefore the bottom edge of our piece of paper has a red border.

The famous poet Goethe, who performed this experiment and did not understand its meaning, imagined that he had thus exposed the falsity of Newton’s teaching about colors, and then wrote his own “Science of Colors,” which is almost entirely based on false ideas.

The earth's atmosphere appears to our eyes as if it were a huge air prism, with its base facing downwards. Looking at the Sun at the horizon, we look at it through a gas prism. The disk of the Sun receives a blue and green border at the top, and a red-yellow border at the bottom. While the Sun is above the horizon, the light of the disk with its brightness interrupts much less bright colored stripes, and we do not notice them at all. But at the moments of sunrise and sunset, when almost its entire disk is hidden under the horizon, we can see the blue border of the upper edge. It is two-color: there is a blue stripe above, and a blue stripe below, from a mixture of blue and green rays. When the air near the horizon is completely clean and transparent, we see a blue border - a “blue ray”. But more often the blue rays are scattered by the atmosphere and only a green border remains: the “green ray” phenomenon. Finally, in most cases, blue and green rays are also scattered by the cloudy atmosphere - then no border is noticed: the Sun sets in a crimson ball.

Pulkovo astronomer G. A. Tikhov, who dedicated a special study to the “green ray,” reports some signs of the visibility of this phenomenon. " If the Sun is red at sunset and easy to look at with the naked eye, we can say with confidence that there will be no green beam"The reason is clear: the red color of the solar disk indicates strong scattering of blue and green rays by the atmosphere, i.e., the entire upper rim of the disk. "On the contrary,” the astronomer continues, “ if the Sun has changed little from its usual whitish-yellow color and sets very bright(i.e. if the absorption of light by the atmosphere is small. - Ya. P.), then it is possible with a high probability wait for the green beam. But here it is precisely important that the horizon be a sharp line, without any irregularities, nearby forests, buildings, etc. These conditions are best met at sea; that's why the green ray is so well known to sailors."

So, to see the “green ray”, you need to observe the Sun at sunset or sunrise in a very clear sky. In southern countries, the sky near the horizon is more transparent than ours, so the phenomenon of the “green ray” is observed there more often. But in our country it is not as rare as many people think, probably under the influence of the novel by Jules Verne. Persistent searches for the “green ray” are sooner or later rewarded with success. It happened to catch this beautiful phenomenon even through a spotting scope. Two Alsatian astronomers describe such an observation as follows:
“...In the last minute before sunset, when, therefore, a noticeable part of it is still visible, the disk, which has a wavy, moving, but sharply defined border, is surrounded by a green rim. Until the Sun has completely set, this rim is not visible to the naked eye. It becomes visible only at the moment the Sun completely disappears below the horizon.If you look through a telescope with a sufficiently strong magnification (about 100 times), you can trace all the phenomena in detail: the green border becomes noticeable no later than 10 minutes before sunset; it limits upper part of the disk, while from the bottom there is a red border. The width of the border, at first very small (only a few seconds of arc), increases as the Sun sets; it sometimes reaches up to half a minute of arc. Above the green rim, green protrusions are often observed, which, with gradual When the Sun disappears, they seem to slide along its edge to the highest point; sometimes they come off the rim and glow separately for several seconds until they go out. “Usually the phenomenon lasts a second or two. But in exceptional circumstances, its duration is noticeably lengthened. There was a case when the “green beam” was observed for more than 5 minutes! The sun was setting behind a distant mountain, and a quickly walking observer saw the green border of the solar disk, as if sliding along the mountainside.

Cases of observing the “green ray” at sunrise, when the upper edge of the luminary begins to appear from under the horizon, are very instructive. This refutes the often expressed guess that the “green ray” is an optical illusion to which the eye, tired of the bright shine of the just setting Sun, succumbs.

Observation of a phenomenon

To observe the green ray, three conditions are necessary: an open horizon (in the steppe, tundra, mountains or at sea in the absence of waves), clean air and a cloud-free side of the horizon where sunset or sunrise occurs. Observation with the naked eye is a rare phenomenon. Using a telescope, telescope, binoculars, and pointing the device at the point of sunrise in advance, you can see it on almost any day in suitable weather. You can watch no more than a few seconds - it’s dangerous! When the Sun sets, its bright light does not allow the use of optics at all.

The normal duration of the green beam is only a few seconds. You can significantly increase the time you observe it if, when it appears, you quickly run up an embankment or move from one deck of a ship to another at such a speed as to maintain the position of your eye relative to the green beam. During one of the expeditions to the South Pole, American pilot and explorer Richard Byrd observed a green beam for 35 minutes. This happened at the end of the polar night, when the edge of the solar disk first appeared above the horizon and moved along it (when observed from the pole, the solar disk moves almost horizontally: its rate of rise is very low).

Physics of the phenomenon

As a result of the superposition of color rays from individual points of the solar disk, its central part will remain white (or rather, due to scattering, the entire disk becomes red) and only the upper and lower edges of the disk will be in a preferential position. The top one becomes blue-green, the bottom one becomes orange-red. The red and orange parts of the Sun's disk set below the horizon before the green and blue parts

The atmospheric dispersion of solar rays is most clearly manifested at the very last moment of sunset, when a small upper segment remains above the horizon, and then only the very “top” of the solar disk. The last ray of the setting Sun, decomposing into a spectrum, forms a “fan” of colored rays. The divergence of the extreme rays of the visible spectrum - violet and red - averages 38", but with stronger refraction it can be much greater. When the Sun plunges below the horizon, we should see violet as the last ray. However, the shortest wavelength rays are violet, blue, cyan - on a long journey in the atmosphere (when the Sun is already at the horizon), are scattered so much that they do not reach the earth's surface. In addition, the human eye is less sensitive to the rays of this part of the spectrum. Therefore, at the last moment of sunset, the last ray of the setting Sun turns out to be a bright emerald color. This phenomenon is called green beam .

When the sun rises, the colors reverse. The first ray of the rising Sun is green; then yellow, orange and finally red are added, which together form the normal daylight of the Sun.

The appearance of the green ray comes in three forms:

in the form of a green edge of the upper part of the solar disk,
in the form of a green segment
in the form of a green beam that looks like a green flame escaping from the horizon.

Blue and red beam

With exceptionally high air transparency, the last ray can be green-blue and even blue. This phenomenon is observed extremely rarely.

It is also extremely rare to observe a “red beam”. The red ray appears at the moment the lower edge of the Sun's disk appears under a clearly formed edge of a cloud covering the rest of the disk. In this case, the height of the Sun above the horizon should be minimal, and the air should be completely transparent. The physics of the phenomenon is similar to the physics of the green beam described above.

In culture

Jules Verne's novel The Green Ray (1882) is dedicated to this natural phenomenon.
Mentioned in Leonid Sobolev’s book “Green Ray” about patrol boats of the Black Sea Fleet during the Great Patriotic War
In the third part of the film "Pirates of the Caribbean", a green beam, according to Mr. Gibbs, appears when a soul returns from the afterlife to the world of the living.
In the story “Trainees” by the Strugatsky brothers.
French director Eric Rohmer directed the film “Green Ray” (1986).

Notes

Source

S. V. Zvereva. In a world of sunshine. L., Gidrometeoizdat, 1988, 160 pp. with illustrations.

Links

Andrew T. Young An Introduction to Green Flashes. San Diego State University. Department of Astronomy. - one of the most complete English-language sites dedicated to the phenomenon of the green ray. Archived
Les Cowley Green Flash (English) . Atmospheric Optics. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
Mario Cogo Green Flash Gallery (English) . Galax Lux. Astrophotography by Mario Cogo. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

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See what “Green Ray” is in other dictionaries:

green beam- a flash of green light at the moment the solar disk disappears under the horizon (usually the sea) or appears above the horizon. The phenomenon is extremely rare and is associated with the refraction of sunlight in the atmosphere. * * * GREEN BEAM GREEN BEAM, flash... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

green beam- a flash of green color at the moment the solar disk disappears behind the horizon (usually the sea) or appears from behind the horizon. It is observed in nature extremely rarely, only in very clear air. Lasts a few seconds. The phenomenon is associated with... ... Marine Biographical Dictionary

green beam- žalio pluoštas statusas T sritis radioelektronika atitikmenys: engl. green beam vok. grünes Bündel, n; Strahl für Grün, m rus. green beam, m; green beam, m pranc. faisceau vert, m... Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas

Green beam- a flash of green light above the disk of the Sun during sunset, observed for several seconds at the moment when the upper edge of the solar disk disappears below the horizon. Origin of Z. l. associated with the refraction of solar rays in the atmosphere.… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

GREEN BEAM- a flash of green light at the moment the solar disk disappears under the horizon (usually the sea) or appears from beyond the horizon. The phenomenon is extremely rare and is associated with the refraction of sunlight in the atmosphere... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

green beam- A phenomenon observed (usually in the open sea, ocean) at the moment of sunset, disappearing beyond the horizon, in the form of a flash (bunny, ray, spot) of green or, less commonly, blue. E. Green ray D. Grüner Strahl, grüner Lichtstrahl … Explanatory ufological dictionary with equivalents in English and German