Back in college I spent a fair bit of time sailing (not since), and since then I’ve been on various vacations to the sea. I’ve watched many sunsets, enjoying the spectacle of the firey orange globe sinking all the way down and flashing out. And of course I’ve looked for the fabled green flash, and almost convinced myself that I saw it but was always not quite sure …
But, last night from the balcony of my 12th floor room I saw it for sure. As the Sun disappeared, and there was just a tiny lip still visible, the whole thing turned an intense neon green (kinda like the color of the glow stick). It reduced to a brilliant point, then winked out, almost the visual equivalant of fizz. It was clearly, unequivocally, wonderfully … green!
And, with the poking around on the wikipedia entry, I discovered that my experience matched what they describe as “inferior mirage flash” or Joule’s last glimpse. Very cool.