Do you know #1 Green Flash and Blood moons

This would be a new series following my educational posts I used to make giving in depth information about certain things that is known, or enlightening you with obscure aspects present in our real world such as the green flash which might be thought of as a myth, however it is a real optical phenomenon. If something interests you and feel it is unfamiliar and can be educational right it down in the comments and it might be in the next post.

1). Green Flashes

Green flashes are optical phenomenons as previously mentioned that are occur during sunrise and sunsets. It is a green flash present just when the sun is set or before the sun rise.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmPXDoRVEYWmgjALyA3QLfDG3eqMpFn4qonTNaiQ4f5uXF

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmT15ofHZ4dA5HnUrFpBTuuUoinXFVCt3FsTAWz94hTRBJ

These flashes occur due to different layers of the atmosphere refracting the light. Light with a higher frequency tends to refract more than light that has higher wavelength

causing them to separate. Large difference in density can cause a more apparent refraction such as the ones present in rainbows, however the refraction caused in the green flash tends to be subtle. The refraction helps green flashes to occur as the more an Electromagnetic field is refracted the more it can curve around the horizon to be perceived for longer.

One might think that since violet light changes its angle of movement the least when passing through different mediums that the flash should be violet.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmQo3vkZbVN4zKnRar1MdeuL2kW2dM2B5Zg5eXSAu9uRSZ

And that would be true but photons with smaller wavelength tend to collide more frequently with

incoming particles scattering them. Where photons with higher wavelength are more likely to collide with incoming particles separating the photons. On the other hand photons with high wavelength can jump over the incoming particles where the waves just go over the particle making it less likely to scatter. Thus violet and blue light are more likely to be scattered by the atmosphere than green making the flash look green.

Sometimes the refraction of the light is not enough where it would not be apparent, hence the presence of a mirage is often needed. The mirage amplifies the effect of the refraction and causes the green flash to appear as if it is separated from the reset of the sun.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmdJoCUjCK2mgTwUsNxhhN5yDGGrjyKUpDkAn5VtMgJs1y

Provided that you do not know what are mirages and how they happen. Mirages are also optical phenomenons that commonly happen in hot flat plains, where the hot air heated from the ground is underneath the cool air so the incoming light gets refracted upwards. As a result the place where the mirage happens looks like water (where some light would do total internal reflection) that it appears to capture the scenery around it, the light coming from these area towards the ground is refracted towards your eyes.

So a green flash is more likely to be observers when the weather is misty enough for most violet and blue light to be scattered but not enough lead to the scattering of green light as well leading to a normal yellow/ red looking sun only. Moreover the presence of mirages aides in exaggerating the effect of green flashes causing them to be apparent. Another factor that helps us to perceive green flashes that our cones can get tired from looking at a certain colour for to long, as a consequence when the red light disappears you are prone to perceive the surroundings in a tint of blue and green, enhancing the clarity of a green flash

2).Blood Moons

Blood moons are total lunar eclipse are also optical phenomenons that happen when the Sun, Earth and the Moon are all aligned together. It mainly happens due to refraction and scattering where all the light reaching the moon hits the Earth first so some are absorbed some are scattered away and some passes with some refraction, And since high wavelength Electromagnetic waves are less likely to refract and scatter the pass through the atmosphere into the moon.

This astronomical occurrence only happens scarcely, as it not only requires a full moon, but it also needs to be in umbral shadow of the earth. This makes that occurrence rare as the moon orbit around the earth is tilted , leading to it completing some orbits (each orbit is about 29.5 days) without being directly behind the earth .

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmRoJJ318dCu6E9SxvAZHXzSqXTurYUqBQxTmusiT3W86V

Due to the Moon's orbit being tilted other types of lunar eclipses might appear. For example when the moon is not directly behind the Earth,

yet it is covered by its shadow, which is not a part of umbral shadow, that shadow would be named premumbral shadow causing the brightness of the moon to decrease a little bit.

The other type is partial lunar eclipse where the moon passes through the umbral shadow without being utterly aligned with the earth, as a consequence a part of the moon only gets covered by the earth rendering it black in comparison to the rest of the moon. https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmRv8JRULcoTjWbK6GMqeqcKdz4hpAVrPBn3Cq5Vb7hVoA

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYVJuhDAMDiiVJcbiy7qUoiaWHonEiTjqjH15YQhUUSag

A lunar eclipse brightness maybe effected through scattering. Since the presence a lot of dust such as when a volcano erupts, will make more red light

scatter. Consequently less light would reach the moon. Provided this scattering can have a massive effect, where the moon would be utterly murky.

For those who do not know umbra penumbra and antumbra are three different parts of the shadow. An umbra occurs when a light source is cast-ed upon a opaque body without any diffraction the shadow would be darkest part of a shadow. A penumbra is when the shadow is lighter, in other words it is the lighter shadow surrounding the umbra.

Last but not least the antumbra only occurs when a light source is bigger than the object. it is the lighter shadow present after the umbra, but not around it, just beyond it.