The disfigured moon

2009/06/26 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika

The atmosphere is between sunlight and us, so we see optical phenomena such as photography. Nice is taking out the moon on the adjacent shore, but it does not have the usual circular shape, it is coming out deformed.

This phenomenon is known as refraction and occurs, especially when there are large differences in density between atmospheric layers. Due to their different density, each layer has a refractive index. Consequently, as we move from one layer to another, the direction of light also changes, which makes us have an image that does not resemble the actual image of what we see.

Image courtesy of: Jean-Marc Audrin