I guess you could call me an average witness. I report what I see around me but I live in the slow lane.
This will be a poor, inadequate report. I know what I see, I just don’t have the words to explain it very well. Maybe you have to be creeping up on 80
to see these things. I know I didn’t see anything like this when I was younger, anything in Nevada, Utah, Florida where I spent my time. Lord knows I
spent enough time sleeping on the ground to be able to know the difference. Maybe Astrobaja will have some input for me on this one.
I’m not sure this is something you can just go look up somewhere. That’s enough lead in. Here’s the report.
Part of the problem is that it is a very transient color, probably rare and impossible to reproduce. All ya got is my word on it. It appears in that
little space between dusk and darkness. In the last 15 years I’ve only seen it a half dozen times but that could also mean those were the only times I
took notice, not the times the phenomenon occurred.
Here’s my perspective: My big open (no screen) window in my bedroom gives me a view from my bed that is almost exactly east. I can see as much sky as
is revealed in a space of 5 X 9 feet at a time when the sun has already set in the west. I get up early, about daybreak so I sometimes go to bed just
after the sun has set and it is at that hour I have a full view of the sky – I’m relaxed but not overly tired and as my room darkens, light begins to
leave the sky, the blue snap appears.
I don’t know why it appears but I can tell you that it does not appear when the sky is overcast, when it is very windy, when it is very cold. It is
April 15 and it first appeared this season a couple of nights ago. From my big bed I can watch the eastern sky begin to lose daylight, soften and hold
that softness for a long time. Suddenly the gray is gone – replaced instantaneously by the special blue.
It takes up the space of the window and holds it for several minutes. It is as uniform in the window frame as a Mondrian print – no part of it is ever
lighter, darker, besmudged.
There are no color distractions in this; there is just the otherworldly blue and the growing darkness of my little room. No stars appear to break up
the color, the mood, the overwhelming feeling the color holds, proudly celebrates. If you torture me I will finally confess I see about 1 part per
million of green in the thing but it is so uniformly spread, so much just an inference rather that an additive that perhaps I see it because I want
to, not because it is there.
I don’t remember it evanescing from the gray of dusk to this new color but I can tell you with unwavering certainty that when the sun has gone just
far enough beyond the horizon to cancel the thing, it blinks out, leaves behind a darkening grey making you wonder what the hell just happened, should
you tell anybody about it.
I can’t find it on the internet. Somehow it reminds me of blue awnings or umbrellas on or near the beach at Grand Cayman or the Spanish Riviera but
that is too bright and showy, not a serious blue at all. This blue, my Baja blue, is serious stuff – if you see it, you won’t hear bells tinkling; it
is a statement, almost a decision, needs the attention of those who sign world-changing compacts with no more ceremony than flags and suits and hats
of flat royal blues, rented ceremonial blue.
There’s no way to know if it is a tropical phenomenon or a global thing. Maybe it’s just an extra added attraction you can only receive if you’re
ready for it. There’s a Cajon word, lagniappe, that means “A little something extra”. Maybe it’s just a Baja “Good Night”.
Could be some of you have seen it and if you have, let me know. It could be that you can’t see it when you sleep on the ground because the stars
change the light. So for those of you who see the sky through the tent flat or the SUV hatch in the back, if you’ve seen it, let’s hear about it. If
you haven’t, you have a real treat coming.Iflyfish - 4-15-2011 at 01:18 PM
I have seen the green flash many times, what you describe is a bit different. Here is a link to images of the green flash, they also mention blue
flash. Green is of course a mix of yellow and blue so I could imagine that one could see "flashes" on either end of the spectrum. Wish I were there to
share it with you.
It is no surprise to me of course that you would see an offcolor flash or two.
IflyfishinaflashBajaBlanca - 4-15-2011 at 02:14 PM
We get the green flash here over the horizon just at the lat second before the sun sets. It is quite amazing, but the conditions do have to be
perfect - no haze, no marine layer. Just a clear blue sky with the sun sinking ...
One of these days we have to lok east instead and see what surprises are lurking on the other side !Skipjack Joe - 4-15-2011 at 02:46 PM
Perhaps you mean this blue.
The blue between dusk and nightfall.Osprey - 4-15-2011 at 03:06 PM
Thanks pal. That's gorgeous but it's not what I see from my window. Wish I had more words or better words.
"Crepuscula"
Mulegena - 4-15-2011 at 03:09 PM
... the word I've heard spoken by people in Mulege for the night sky when it is in the 'nether-hour between dusk and dark.
Time itself rests briefly in its turn, the veil which is between the worlds thins and the night's spirits awaken from within the chests of their
hosts, stretch and flex and step out for their evening's pleasure; assuredly once again they live.
My heart is refreshed and lightened as the night casts its cover over my day's tired soul and it is magically refreshened.
Again, Osprey, you've written something as beautiful and precious as the phenomenon you've described.
Hands down, your writing entertains, educates, provokes and intrigues me... always and in all ways.
Besos a ti.
Igor, thanks for adding the beautiful photograph, stunningly evocative.Osprey - 4-15-2011 at 03:28 PM
Thanks Mulegeña, that's about as high on my reader satisfaction meter I could ever hope for.
Crepuscular rays are beautiful but this blue is a screamingly uniform blue and lasts for several minutes -- during that time I can't discern any
change in intensity or hue, then it's gone in a fillip (whence the snap).
[Edited on 4-15-2011 by Osprey]Mulegena - 4-15-2011 at 03:52 PM
Yes, I understand it has no rayos, Osprey. "Screamingly uniform blue" is perhaps your spirits' protective veil you see as they awaken and await their
release as the body prepares for its rest. "Flip" the phenomenon disaparates, you deepen into rest and they wander the night air.
This, I suspect, is a singularly personal experiential phenomenon you've shared with us.
I'm drawing from my Indian/World Tribal earth-based people's oral traditions in suggesting interpretation and understanding.DanO - 4-15-2011 at 04:08 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by IflyfishIt is no surprise to me of course that you would see an offcolor flash or two.
Indeed.
George, I felt like I could see it myself after reading that great piece. As for my own place, being on the left coast I lack an essential element --
an east-facing bedroom window.monoloco - 4-15-2011 at 04:34 PM
If you can't find it on the internet then it must not existSeriously, I know
what you are referring to, nicely written!Osprey - 4-16-2011 at 07:15 AM
Found this article this morning that might explain what I'm seeing. Less white light hanging around when the air is super rarified, as in clean as it
can get. Still don't know what to call it.
"Earth Shadow", is what I believe you referring to. Sometimes called the "Belt of Venus". The phenomenon was identified to me by a photographer.goldhuntress - 4-16-2011 at 10:12 AM
I think the Earth's Shadow and Belt of Venus are two different things, the latter is not blue. The Earth's Shadow is just above the east horizon so
that could be it if that's the view from the window. I only know the difference because I spent about an hour looking on the internet last night and
learned all about scattering light and all kinds of atmospheric optics. Thanks Osprey for always making me wonder
Seriously, I know
what you are referring to, nicely written!