“Glimpse you ere the green ray,
Count the morrow a fi ne day.
- Old English Proverb
The rarest of the fl ashes – the green ray – is a beam of green light that shoots straight up
from the originating green fl ash, and occurs at the very moment the sun sets. It is caused by
hazy air and an originating green fl ash that is more brilliant than normal.
There is an old Scottish legend that those who have seen the green fl ash have been given
the gift of “the sight,” and that they can read the hearts of others. This might have stemmed
from the fact the Celtic people once believed the color green to be evil in nature, and representative
of death and misfortune. In pirate lore the green fl ash means a soul has returned
from the dead to this world.
Some say the green fl ash comes from one staring at the sun too long, which creates a temporary
“bleaching” of your red-sensitive retinal pigment. There is too much photo documentation
– not to mention science – to say this is true.
Did You Know?
Etruscan vs. Omega
Sunsets
Have you ever heard of an
“Etruscan Vase”sunset?
It was named after classic writer Jules Verne
who said that is exactly what it looks like.
There is also an “omega” sunset, as itlooks
very much like the sixth letter in the
Greek alphabet. As the sundescends a
second sun rises from the water. Eventually
the two join at a red-hued, vertically-stretched
stem. The stem shortens and thickens until the
two suns appear like a Greek letter omega.
The suns continue to merge until eventually
only a discus shape remains.
November/December 2019 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE 3