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Hear in hawaii you can see the green flash probably 30% of all sunsets that occur over water (not land). What you need is no clouds where the sun is setting and a very clear visability (which hawaii normally has). Also it helps to be at an elevation of at least 20 feet above the earth or water surface (deck of a cruise ship works well). The higher up you are it seems to work better- I live at elevation 400feet and regularly see the green flash. Best to not look directly at the sun until it is just ready to entirely slip below the horozion. Then, for a split second just after the entire sun is gone you will see a speck of green for a split secon- the green flash. I could see how a plane flying west at a high altitude would extend the time of the green flash- it is extending the time of the sunset time.
Green flash is a misnomer. It's more of a green "wink" -- hard to see unless you're watching closely. Blink at the wrong moment and you'll miss it. For a really good sense of how it forms look at the sun through binoculars -- BUT NOT UNTIL the sun is 80-90% below the horizon. What you see is a green edge form first at the sides of the sun and then work it's way across the bottom and then across the top edge. The middle of the sun (what remains of it) will be orange/yellow surrounded by the flickering green edge. As the sun dips below the horizon the green edges collapse on themselves and in the last instant it "winks" all green.
I always thought it was an urban, no maritime myth -- but it's real and has nothing to do with the rum you may be drinking at the time.
Green flash is a misnomer. It's more of a green "wink" -- hard to see unless you're watching closely. Blink at the wrong moment and you'll miss it. For a really good sense of how it forms look at the sun through binoculars -- BUT NOT UNTIL the sun is 80-90% below the horizon. What you see is a green edge form first at the sides of the sun and then work it's way across the bottom and then across the top edge. The middle of the sun (what remains of it) will be orange/yellow surrounded by the flickering green edge. As the sun dips below the horizon the green edges collapse on themselves and in the last instant it "winks" all green.
I always thought it was an urban, no maritime myth -- but it's real and has nothing to do with the rum you may be drinking at the time.
You can only see it in certain locations, in my experience, in the tropics and only when the sun sets over a very long fetch of water (a sea or an ocean)
I also think it is not believed untill seen, then you want to see another one!
after watching countless videos (as I have not seen it ever), all the evidence seems to be a green dot is the last color wave as the sun dips... a light diffraction if you will. Someone please prove me wrong!
Not as sexy as a flash, but hey what do you want from an engineer.
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