Green flash

Green flashes occur because the Earth's atmosphere can cause the light from the Sun to separate, or refract, into different colors.

[2] The green flash also may be observed in association with the Moon and bright planets at the horizon, including Venus and Jupiter.

[2][3][4] With an unrestricted view of the horizon, green flashes are regularly seen by airline pilots, particularly when flying westwards as the sunset is slowed.

A green flash is more likely to be seen in stable, clear air, when more of the light from the setting sun reaches the observer without being scattered.

Part of this phenomenon was recently discovered by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, regarding infrared-laser light converting-up (or upconverting) to visible-green laser light, causing what researchers there call "a double hit" of photons on the retina, creating the perception of bright neon green from an originally invisible infrared laser.

Some types not listed in the table above, such as the cloud-top flash (seen as the Sun sinks into a coastal fog, or at distant cumulus clouds), are not understood.

The color of the upper rim of an astronomical object could go from green to blue to violet depending on the decrease in concentration of pollutants as they spread throughout an increasing volume of atmosphere.

It was seen on and off for 35 minutes by members of the Richard Evelyn Byrd party from the Antarctic Little America exploration base in 1934: There was a rush for the surface and as eyes turned southward, they saw a tiny but brilliant green spot where the last ray of the upper rim of the sun hung on the skyline.

[citation needed] In the 1984 film The Island Closest to Heaven Yuichi Fukaya took Mari, the main character to watch the sunset and told about the green flash after the sun sinks into the sea.

[13] Walt Disney Pictures' 2007 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End references the green flash as a signal that a soul had returned from the dead.