The Green Flash

Jon, I read your note on Gary's site and was curious to see your work. THIS is a phenomenal series! I watched it in a slideshow and it was clear to see (even before the zoomed images) that you captured it beautifully! We have seen it once, also on the water, in the British Virgin islands. Thank you for sharing and reviving a good memory! ... Judy aka L@dybug, FL

said ladybug591 2007.01.29 at 06:30:32 PST

Very interesting, Jon. Especially for us land locked snow prisoners far from the ocean. I wasn't aware of this phenomenon. As an aviation navigator, we often took sextant observations when the sun was below the horizon. When it is that low, the parallax is tremendous and probably varies a great deal depending on the weather conditions. Are you concerned about damage to the chip in your camera with extended sun observations, or are you heavily filtered? Great shots.

said garylr 2007.01.29 at 18:24:24 PST

Hi Gary, My camera was not filtered and perhaps I should be more careful; but the sun was low enough and there was a slight overcast that it was shining through. So it was fairly filtered by the atmosphere and I wasn't too worried about it. Besides I was looking directly at it with my naked eye too and it didn't seem that bright. Bonnie, my wife, was watching also and saw the same thing. Neither one of us were looking for it; but she commented "...looked like it turned green for a moment". Not sure she'd ever heard of the Green Flash before. That whole series only took less than four seconds. So if one blinked at the wrong time, he/she might miss "the flash". Guess I was lucky. I'd heard about this back in the mid seventies when I did quite a bit of time aboard ship. The old-timers who lived on the ship full time told me about; it but until two weeks ago, I'd never seen it myself. So I was beginning to think they were telling me tales -- like going snipe hunting or something like that. :-) It was less spectacular than I'd imagined it would be also. I thought if I were to ever see it, it would light up a big portion of the sky with a bright green flash. And perhaps it happens that way sometimes; but that's probably very rare.

said asendus 2007.01.29 at 18:40:22 PST

Wonderful album - I've heard of the Green Flash also, but have never seen it except in one photo I think was color adjusted. That was spectacular just the same! I viewed this as a slide show before reading the whole series took less that 4 seconds - amazing! Janice

said jannetie 5 months 19 days ago