Next message: Frank Reed: "dip, dip short, distance off with buildings, etc."
Frank wrote:
Yeah, I agree. There's nothing navigationally significant about the green
flash, that I can think of, that would make it any different from any other
sunset. It's an attractive phenomenon regardless. By the way, I, too, have
"seen" the green flash, but like you I have to wonder whether there was
some
wishful thinking involved since it was over so quickly. There's no doubt
that it's
a real phenomenon --it can be photographed and video-ed-- but it's not
exactly an obvious thing.
If someone waited on witnessing a green flash to get an LOP they're going to
be bobbing around out there for a long time (many, many sunsets) before they
get the chance. Unless the observer is very lucky indeed.
Perhaps what was meant was if the observer is ready and everything is set up
a local time shot may be taken with a stop watch to figure out a longitude.
I just don't know what the writer was trying to get across with this. I
can't, for the life of me, understand how this event, when witnessed, would
be navigationally superior to any other sunset observation. Perhaps Mr.
Stark can shed some light on what he was trying to relate.
And as Joel stated in his witnessing of some, the flash is not confined to
the immediate area around the Sun but, in reality, covers quite a big area
of the western horizon.
I don't know what causes this event other than anecdotal and eyewitness
evidence that it does happen.
One evening the on duty deck crew were all looking for the green flash. The
lookouts on the forward quarter and bow (deck level) stated they saw it but
everyone on the upper decks didn't see anything other than a nice sunset.
I often wondered if this event ever happens over terra firma.
