back in a (green) flash

Sorry for the delayed return, a week in Hawaii can hamper one's interest in doing much of anything other than sitting on the beach and enjoying frosty drinks. Hawaii itself actually provided a few interesting points of astronomical interest, and I'll get back in the swing of things with those. I saw my first green flash last August on my first trip to Hawaii. There are enormous details involved that I don't entirely understand, but the green flash is basically a refractive phenomenon in which the rising or setting sun shows a brief (1 or 2 seconds at most) flash of green light just before crossing the horizon. The light from the sun is bent through the atmosphere, different wavelengths being bent to different degrees, and for a brief instant green is separated out from the other colors. After seeing this spectacle last summer in Hawaii, I was determined to not only see it again on this trip, but also photograph it. I was successful on both counts. The photo here was taken on our second night on the big island, probably the best sunset of the entire week. It's not perfectly in focus, but the green is definitely there. A third viewing of the green flash followed on our second to last night. Considering that many people never manage to see a green flash, even with years of trying, I consider myself lucky to have now seen three.