green flash

noun

1. a green coloration of the upper portion of the sun, caused by atmospheric refraction and occasionally seen as the sun rises above or sinks below the horizon.

green flash

noun

1. astronomy a flash of bright green light sometimes seen as the sun passes below the horizon, caused by a combination of the dispersion, scattering, and refraction of light

Word History and Origins

Origin of green flash¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

When a particle is caught, a bright green flash appears, confirming that the trap has successfully grabbed a glowing, perfectly round aerosol particle.

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Another, Marco, said he experience a light green flash.

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Attached to the main lodge is a terrace where, at day’s end, astronomers gather to try to get a glimpse of the green flash, a rare last vestige of the sun as it disappears below the horizon, if the conditions are exactly right.

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Together they watched for the green flash, that strange optical phenomenon that occurs when the sun slips below the horizon and its light is briefly refracted by the atmosphere.

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It takes only a moment, like a green flash, to see something made long ago with entirely new eyes.

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