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  2. Atmospheric optics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_optics

    The Novaya Zemlya effect will give the impression that the sun is rising earlier or setting later than it actually should (astronomically speaking). [42] Depending on the meteorological situation the effect will present the Sun as a line or a square (which is sometimes referred to as the "rectangular sun"), made up of flattened hourglass shapes.

  3. Atmospheric refraction - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_refraction

    Diagram showing displacement of the Sun's image at sunrise and sunset Comparison of inferior and superior mirages due to differing air refractive indices, n. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. [1]

  4. Atmospheric diffraction - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_diffraction

    The ionosphere is a layer of partially ionized gases high above the majority of the Earth's atmosphere; these gases are ionized by cosmic rays originating on the sun. When radio waves travel into this zone, which commences about 80 kilometers above the earth, they experience diffraction in a manner similar to the visible light phenomenon described above. [1]

  5. Sunrise - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunrise

    The timing of sunrise varies throughout the year and is also affected by the viewer's latitude and longitude, altitude, and time zone. These changes are driven by the axial tilt of Earth, daily rotation of the Earth, the planet's movement in its annual elliptical orbit around the Sun, and the Earth and Moon's paired revolutions around each other.

  6. Empirical evidence for the spherical shape of Earth - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_evidence_for_the...

    On a flat Earth, a Sun that shines in all directions would illuminate the entire surface at the same time, and all places would experience sunrise and sunset at the horizon at about the same time. With a spherical Earth, half the planet is in daylight at any given time and the other half experiences nighttime.

  7. Green flash - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash

    Rarely, the green flash can resemble a green ray shooting up from the sunset or sunrise point. Green flashes occur because the Earth's atmosphere can cause the light from the Sun to separate, or refract, into different colors. Green flashes are a group of similar phenomena that stem from slightly different causes, and therefore, some types of ...

  8. Diurnal cycle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diurnal_cycle

    Earth's rotation relative to the Sun causes the 24-hour day/night cycle. A diurnal cycle (or diel cycle) is any pattern that recurs every 24 hours as a result of one full rotation of the planet Earth around its axis. [1] Earth's rotation causes surface temperature fluctuations throughout the day and night, as well as weather changes throughout ...

  9. Diffuse sky radiation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_sky_radiation

    Daily at any global venue experiencing sunrise or sunset, most of the solar beam of visible sunlight arrives nearly tangentially to Earth's surface. Here, the path of sunlight through the atmosphere is elongated such that much of the blue or green light is scattered away from the line of perceivable visible light. This phenomenon leaves the Sun ...