Blue Mock Flash

July 31, 2019

Blue flash 071819

July 2019 Viewer's ChoicePhotographer: Thom Peck 
Summary Authors: Thom Peck; Jim Foster

From my vantage point in the foothills of San Diego, California I can see a greenish colored rim of the Sun at sunset about half the time. Note that the Pacific Ocean is about 14 miles (23 km) away. A bluish colored flash, as shown above, is sometimes detected, particularly if the air is clean and a strong thermal inversion is present. Here, the flash appears to be above the solar disk. Thus the flash is a mock flash. Photo taken on July 18, 2019 at 7:56 p.m.

Photo Details: Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T6i; Exposure Time: 0.0005s (1/2000); Aperture: ƒ/13.0; ISO equivalent: 200. The only processing is cropping.