Here's a green flash I photographed a few years ago at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile, back when I worked there. This phenomenon happens at sunset or sunrise if conditions are right, especially if the atmosphere is strongly layered.
This is a rapid burst of shots taken one after the other. The whole sequence lasted only two seconds, which gives you an idea of how ephemeral green flashes are.
By the way, you would not be able to see this particular green flash with your naked eye, because the portion of the solar disk still above the horizon completely outshines the flash.
Sometimes, when the green flash is the only thing left above the horizon, you might see it by eye. But it's easy to fool yourself! I've had people swearing they saw it while I was recording sequences similar to this one next to them and found no trace of the flash in the final images 😉
@astro_jcm I've seen two both over the ocean. One in New Zealand that all three of us saw. It lasted long enough for all of us to say WTF!
And one at sunrise. I had recorded the time of sunrise to the second on my iPhone and was looking at the time, one more second, I looked up and flash.
Could have been group hallucination with good Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc and the second one wishful thinking. Brain likes to be tricked.
Dr Marla Spencer
Juan Carlos Muñoz
Unbreakable? Hold my espresso.
gavin
Wayne Young
Ian M Hawkins (he/him)
GrumpyGreybeard