Sunset with "Green Flash"

Hiked to Torry Pines hill, on Saturday. Its just a mile walk.. but gains elevation pretty quickly.. Wide view of ocean from top of the hill is indeed marvelous.

I was just in time to see sunset. On west side, near horizon, there were few clouds and beautiful "red ball" was passing through it. Obviously there wasn't anything different than usual sunset, until I pointed my binocular. Binoculars revealed a totally different view of sunset. Because of clouds on the horizon, top part of the red sun had a "green tinge". The green tinge remained for 5-10 seconds and vanished.. Again, when sun passed through next layer of clouds, the green tinge reappeared on top part of sun above clouds.. Seemed like for every layer of clouds, green tinge appeared..

when I was a kid, I remember reading an article in physics magazine about: how a scientist caught a glimpse of violet color in the setting sun. To have a longer view of that "violet tinge" during sunset, he drove from mountain top, downslope, watching sun. Thus he saw the violet color for almost a minute. Obviously the article was pointing to highly improbable view.. means.. first of all its really difficult to see violet color in sunset because of our eye limitations (RGB sensors in retina) and additionally catching the glimpse for a minute and driving at the same time is hilarious :) ... but still... it made me realize that you can see different colors in sun other than typical red and yellow during sunset.. So out of curiosity, at that time, I also tried to see violet color in sunset from a nearby hill across my home in Pune, but I never saw any colors other than red and yellow.

..and today, unexpectedly, I saw green tinge in the sunset.. With naked eyes, I didn't see anything, but binocular revealed this green tinge. To confirm that it wasn't binoc optical aberration, simple google search revealed wealth of information.. People have not only seen green tinge, but they have witnessed "green flash" and "blue flash" ..

Indeed a "earthly" event to witness..

PS: Think before pointing your binocs to the Sun.. With normal Sun, it will surely damage your eyes, but I felt the brightness of Setting sun also, through binocs.. but "green tinge" sight was too beautiful to control myself :)

(Photo credit : Galax Lux, Mario Cogo)