When an image appears much shorter, the condition is termed stooping . We will discuss each in more detail below. Perhaps the most common form of superior mirage is looming . The bending of the light ray paths under looming conditions increases as the temperature gradient increases in the air layer. Thus, the greater and deeper the inversion, the higher the object appears in the sky because our eyes interpret the bent light path as straight.
Scale is greatly exaggerated.
This is illustrated in the above diagram. Because of this bending, we see the object floating in the sky, above or even attached to the original object. In cases of strong looming, the image may appear very high in the sky. Looming of a distant ship may be the source of the many legends of flying ghost ships seen by mariners over the centuries. And since the actual ship may be below the geometric horizon, sailors or shoreline viewers might never see it except as a mirage image.