page_title: Mirage of astronomical objects
section_title: Not a mirage
hierarchical_section_title: Mirage of astronomical objects / Not a mirage
caption_attribution_description: English: Different shapes of the setting sun
context_page_description: A mirage of an astronomical object is a meteorological optical phenomenon, in which light rays are bent to produce distorted or multiple images of an astronomical object. The mirages might be observed for such celestial objects as the Sun, the Moon, the planets, bright stars, and very bright comets. The most commonly observed of these are sunset and sunrise mirages.
context_section_description: The composite image on the left is made out of five frames of different sunsets. None of the images is a mirage. Frames # 1 and # 2 could fool even a very experienced observer. They do look like a mock mirage of the setting Sun, but they are not. Frames #3 and # 4 are clearly not a mirage. Frame # 5 is not a mirage and not even a sunspot, it is a spider with the Sun as a background. The strange shapes of the Sun in this composite is due to vog and clouds.
  
  Numerous atmospheric effects, such as vog, clouds, smoke, smog and others could generate a mirage like appearance of an astronomical object.  Lens flares and ghost images also might be responsible for a false mirage or a false green flash.
caption: Different shapes of the setting Sun
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