Mirages are mysterious and mysterious natural phenomena, the nature of which was discovered only recently, in the foreseeable past. They served as the basis for many myths and legends about fairy-tale cities in the sky and mystical oases in the middle of an arid desert.
Mirage is an optical phenomenon. Mirage occurs when light is reflected from air layers of varying degrees of density and different temperatures.
Fata Morgana is not a synonym for the word “mirage”, but only one of its varieties.
Mirages occur both over a hot surface, and over cold, but the first are observed more often.
As a result of the mirage that has arisen in cold weather, the observer can see objects located beyond the horizon.
Legends of flying ships in the era of sailing ships owe their origin to mirages.
There are also very rare voluminous mirages, when a person can see himself, and near. Such mirages can arise if the air is saturated with water vapor.
The ancient Egyptians believed that mirages are the ghosts of objects and places that once existed in reality, but have already disappeared.
The brightest and clearest mirages are recorded in the US, Alaska.
The most complex mirages, the most rare is the moving fata morgana.
But ordinary mirages over the asphalt roads warmed by the sun can be observed by everyone.
In North Africa, in the Erg-er-Ravi desert, mirages have ruined many travelers, “showing” them oases that are visually located a few kilometers away, while the actual distance to them exceeds half a thousand kilometers.
There are documented evidences confirming that whole groups of people observed huge complex mirages in the form of entire cities in the heavens.
In Russia, mirages often appear over Lake Baikal.
In the Japanese town of Watsu, located on the coast, there are also occasional mirages, because of which coastal houses seem to soar above the waters of the bay.
