An optical illusion in which light bends as it passes through air layers of differing temperature and density, displacing, distorting or duplicating a distant object or patch of sky so it appears where it is not. An inferior mirage, the shimmering "pool of water" above a hot road or desert surface, forms when a layer of very hot air near the ground bends light upward from the sky. A superior mirage, more common over cold water or ice, can make distant objects appear to float above the horizon or stretch vertically.
Facts
Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceMirages are multiple images formed by atmospheric refraction, appearing erect or inverted 1 First DescribedFirst fully explained by the French mathematician Joseph Diez Gergonne, in a paper of 1829 1 Connections
Demonstrated By
Desert, Biomes Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sources
1. Introduction to Mirages, Andrew T. Young, San Diego State University
Introduction section, classical mirages classification table, credit line
Joseph Diez Gergonne, the first scientist to fully understand these phenomena, described the varieties of circumstances . . . that give rise to that mutiplicity of images of one and the same object that properly constitute the phenomenon of mirage.
Introduction section, opening definition
Mirages are multiple images formed by atmospheric refraction
View the SourceNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationDemonstrated By: DesertView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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