imtoken钱包下载注册教|mirage

作者: imtoken钱包下载注册教
2024-03-08 19:34:07

CSGO中“米垃圾”(荒漠迷城;Mirage)有多好玩? - 知乎

CSGO中“米垃圾”(荒漠迷城;Mirage)有多好玩? - 知乎首页知乎知学堂发现等你来答​切换模式登录/注册反恐精英(Counter-Strike)反恐精英:全球攻势(CS:GO)CSGO中“米垃圾”(荒漠迷城;Mirage)有多好玩?关注者41被浏览251,817关注问题​写回答​邀请回答​好问题​添加评论​分享​30 个回答默认排序侠启名走路:皮卡乒 皮卡乓 皮卡乒 皮卡乓

跳远:皮卡兵乒乓乒乓乒丘丘丘乓兵​ 关注这张图比较像一种社会结构,纺锤形社会。新手不喜欢玩,老手喜欢玩,顶尖强队不愿意作为胜负手玩。新手不喜欢玩很好理解,玩法太多。没有掌握80%的情况下游戏体验相较于其他图会很差。举个例子,都知道匪抢中第一身位比警快(经评论区提醒后,答主反复试验,在近乎完美的情况下测得,警其实比匪快0.2帧左右,所以没抢过警,往后换个借口吧)。警比匪抢中路快大约0.2帧https://www.zhihu.com/video/1445897642735329280但是各位知道警抢匪口比匪快吗?(匪口狙击位警比匪快大概一个开镜的时间)抢下水道,警比匪快(匪一号位基本都是中,警一号位比匪二三号位到这里快一个视觉盲点的速度,这么一点点速度,枪位就没了)这样的例子太多了,新手动不动被这些抢点速度干翻,只能来一句,卧槽怎么这么快。更不要说各个位置的单向烟,包点火,反清闪。老手喜欢玩,玩法太多。细节/地图理解/道具,随便一个精通带来的优势都是巨大的。最基本的匪家每个出生点扔VIP烟,可以迅速控下中路,进而辐射两边包点,猛一点开局三十秒进入残局。进阶的VIP/AB二楼/警家/沙袋/B小/拱门单向烟,每小局用一个,都能气的对面骂娘。再搭配反清闪,运筹帷幄之中,决胜千里之外,队友再来句“闪的好啊”,岂不快哉?顶尖强队不愿让米垃圾成胜负手,变数太大。major挑战赛major冠军赛IEM以上数据为major挑战赛,冠军赛和IEM比赛的选图次数。上半年米垃圾的选取率还是很高的,但是到了真正的强队如云的大比赛,我们熟知的顶级强队,并不愿意把胜负手压在米垃圾身上。因为玩法实在太多了,而且每个队都有自己压箱底的绝活。几年的比赛看下来,这张图是我个人认为翻车率最高的图。比赛没结束前,都有那么一丝希望锁住,翻盘,全队高呼~综上所述,我认为,米垃圾是csgoer中最值得钻研的一张图,没有之一。但也是最容易自闭的图,没有之一,因为,五个人的团队,胜负永远取决于队内短板的长度。编辑于 2021-11-21 23:56​赞同 280​​38 条评论​分享​收藏​喜欢收起​花店不开花继续开​做个通透的人,少羡慕别人,也别攻击自己​ 关注这图对于身法,道具,配合的要求远高于其他图。新手玩就是给大佬捞薯条的突破手推荐主练炼狱小镇,地图小,近距离冲突多。战术也简单。狙击手推荐主练沙漠2,无脑抢a大就完事了。确实,米垃圾对各个点位的关联比沙二还紧密,以前沙二最平衡,改了就米垃圾了发布于 2022-10-21 19:09​赞同 26​​添加评论​分享​收藏​喜欢

MIRAGE中文(简体)翻译:剑桥词典

MIRAGE中文(简体)翻译:剑桥词典

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mirage 在英语-中文(简体)词典中的翻译

miragenoun [ C ] uk

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/mɪˈrɑːʒ/ us

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/mɪˈrɑːʒ/

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an image, produced by very hot air, of something that seems to be far away but does not really exist

海市蜃楼,蜃景,幻景

literary a hope or wish that has no chance of being achieved

幻想,妄想

Electoral victory is just a distant mirage.

选举获胜只是一个可望而不可即的美好幻景。

(mirage在剑桥英语-中文(简体)词典的翻译 © Cambridge University Press)

mirage的例句

mirage

In the presence of randomness, regular patterns can only be mirages.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

Mirages show an extra image or images of the miraged object, while looming, towering, stooping, and sinking do not.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

She concluded that one might prefer to suppose that the dilemma, and the document, are mirages, that his book is a postmodernist literary device.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

Just then another ship was seen in the air, only this one was a steamship, and was bottom-upwards, as the captain had said these mirages generally appeared.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

There is a real medievalist's mirage.

来自 Cambridge English Corpus

We are determined not to mistake a mirage for reality.

来自 Hansard archive

该例句来自Hansard存档。包含以下议会许可信息开放议会许可v3.0

Since clouds are closely associated with high levels of water vapor, optical mirages due to water vapor are often rendered undetectable by the accompanying opaque cloud.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

He was sardonic in his youth and the complex images produced by the desire machines bored him; he could not surrender to the mirages.

来自 Wikipedia

该例句来自维基百科,在CC BY-SA许可下可重复使用。

示例中的观点不代表剑桥词典编辑、剑桥大学出版社和其许可证颁发者的观点。

B1

mirage的翻译

中文(繁体)

海市蜃樓,蜃景,幻景, 幻想,妄想…

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西班牙语

espejismo…

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葡萄牙语

miragem…

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in Dutch

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in Swedish

马来语

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in Ukrainian

俄语

serap, ılgın…

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mirage…

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luchtspiegeling…

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fata morgana…

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luftspejling, fata morgana…

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fatamorgana…

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ภาพลวงตา…

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ảo ảnh…

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miraż, fatamorgana, złudzenie…

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hägring…

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logamaya…

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die Luftspiegelung…

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luftspeiling, fata morgana, hildring…

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міраж…

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мираж…

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在英语词典中查看 mirage 的释义

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Miocene

miracle

miraculous

miraculously

mirage

Miranda

mire

mired

mirin

“每日一词”

healthspan

UK

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/ˈhelθ.spæn/

US

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/ˈhelθ.spæn/

the number of years that someone lives or can expect to live in reasonably good health

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Forget doing it or forget to do it? Avoiding common mistakes with verb patterns (2)

March 06, 2024

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新词

stochastic parrot

March 04, 2024

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CSGO地图Mirage全分析(1)地图理解篇 - 知乎

CSGO地图Mirage全分析(1)地图理解篇 - 知乎首发于wasdCSGO切换模式写文章登录/注册CSGO地图Mirage全分析(1)地图理解篇Cold​电竞盐究员前言Mirage这张地图其实我很早就想写了,可是不知道V社后面会更新哪一张地图。在我看来后面有可能会更新的地图应该是Train和Overpass,毕竟不是很平衡而且也打了很长一段时间了。不过我看采访,很多职业选手好像都有说建议改动Mirage,这张地图打的太多了实在没什么意思,希望看到一些新的改变。最近应该是不会更新了,毕竟刚更新了一个大行动,而且最近Vertigo的频繁更新不像要移除地图池样子。其实Mirage这张地图还算比较平衡的一张地图,而且这张地图不仅很吃枪法,也很吃战术。路人局里,不会进攻的T会被CT狙到自闭,不会防守的CT也会被T干拉到自闭。那接下来,我就来给大家分享一下Mirage这张地图。地图结构Mirage是一张综合性很强的图,交火距离随着每个人选位的不同而变化。无双的枪法在这个地图上可以完美发挥,优秀的战术会成为你在这张地图取得胜利的助力。宽阔的中路,中远距离对枪对枪法有一定的要求掩体,枪位众多的A包点结构复杂交火距离近的B包点Mirage的CT和T哪个优势更大?从下图的HLTV近三个月的数据来看,Mirage是较偏向于CT的地图。不考虑频繁修改的Vertigo,Mirage应该是除了Inferno之外最平衡的地图了。截图于2019年11月20日下午13:48下图是更细节的一些数据。截图于2019年11月20日下午13:48Mirage的地图控制下面两张图是Mirage前期交火的热力图,这次我截的图是HLTV的热力图,图像显示的是第一个人头(首杀)击杀者的热力图。T的首杀位置从上图我们可以看出来,T的首杀主要出现在中路和A1,A2区域。先说中路,匪口拉出来的那个区域是最容易和VIP或拱门拉出来的CT产生交火而拿到首杀的。所以作为CT方的你,如果是第一时间侦查中路的信息,请一定要找A包点的队友要一颗中路高闪。其次我们可以看到B小靠近小黑屋的近点,首杀同样很多。那里可能是中路过点烟混出来的T或者是快上B小的T对B小、VIP和拱门三个位置造成的击杀。所以作为中路在VIP防守的CT,你还需要注意对方的快上B小,或者混出过点烟来打你。在下水道区域,我们还能看到这三个点位也是绿色的。第一个位置是T断下水道前压CT的位置;第二个位置是快速走下水道的T和下水道前压的CT碰头的位置;第三个位置是快速走下水道的T可能拿VIP或拱门人头的位置。所以作为CT,前压的时候小心1号位和2号位,中路侦查信息的CT小心被3号位的T拿首杀。再看看A2楼这个区域。从图中可以看出A2楼的前点色温非常高,这个区域一来是T爆烟之后A2楼的T同步的位置(这个我们暂且不详细讨论);二来是这个位置很容易抓CT换点或回防的Timing,有点类似于DustⅡ在B洞断后时不时摸屁股的T。A二楼这个位置很轻易的能架到防守A的CT的过点,所以CT在回防或者换点的过程中一定要小心A二楼断后的T。我们还能在这张图的后面看到一个小点,这个位置是断前压A2楼CT的位置。有的人喜欢架在这里,其实我更推荐下面这个位置。推荐在这个位置防守前压2楼的CTCT的首杀位置从CT的这张图我们可以看到,中路的VIP、拱门是一个非常容易拿首杀的地方,再算上B小,这三个位置就像一个口袋一样,将中路的T收入囊中。所以对于CT来说VIP、拱门、B小的丢闪然后double peek甚至是triple peek的配合对于中路的控制是非常重要的。那么对于想要抢占中路的T来说,VIP,拱门,B小的烟雾弹是非常重要的辅助。通过对CT部分枪位的限制,以达到更安全的抢占中路控制权的目的。对于CT来说这几个位置也很有意思。最上面的1号位是CT前压下水道的位置;2号位可能是这样架下水道的CT;3号位可能是打一个弹墙闪从VIP跳下来清下水道的CT,也有可能是丢拱门烟摸出来的CT;打一颗闪出跳下来的CTCT可以借着较深的拱门烟去观察下水道4号位是常见CT前顶中路的位置;在闪光的掩护下,中路前顶的CT最后来看看Mirage的A点。二楼下和三明治都是非常克干摸的位置;出生位置好的狙击手前顶2楼,是很容易拿到击杀的;跳台、长箱和CT的大狙很容易拿到A1,A2楼的首杀;在岗亭指挥交通的大狙,和爆烟时从连接烟里混出来的CT都不好对付。跳在岗亭上的大狙,既可以观察中路,也可以直架A1Mirage的A区可以看到Mirage的A区防守点位众多(黄色箭头),远近的配合(蓝色箭头),大角度的交叉火力(红色箭头)。针对于A区的攻防,常见的都是以下几种情况:第一时间丢闪“干拉”A区,第一时间CT还没有站好交叉火力,这时候身位好的T已经从A1拉出来了,所以CT的防Rush一定一定要往A1丢火,第一时间丢烟雾只能骗自己;如果T进攻只是第二时间从A1、A2出的话,会被各个角度的点位摩擦到死,所以T在进攻的时候一般都会爆三颗烟封上警家,连接和跳台,隔开包点和包点外的CT,有条件的还会火烧二楼下、短箱、长箱和三明治,利用道具烟封远点,火烧近点(不知道为什么有种远交近攻的感觉)。在T爆烟的时候,道具足够的CT可以等下包打回防,也可以用闪光配合包点的CT反打。若只有你一个在包点瑟瑟发抖,emmmm。。。。为什么不早点溜溜球?更有效的打法可能是前期抢完中路给足够的压力之后,送部分T上小黑屋、拱门和VIP,之后再转回A1,A2楼进攻A包点。这时候一方面进攻的时候会少针对很多的点位,另一方面在中路的T可以打回防的CT;如果前期中路给了足够多的压力(意味着A包点一般只有一个人防守),突然的飞一次A2楼也是不错的选择。Mirage的B区B区点位非常复杂,唯一的入口会被很多的点位架住过点(黄色箭头),阴人的枪位也很多(黑色箭头),不过只要中路和A区给的压力足够大,一般来说B区不会有太多的CT在包点进行防守。如果在B包点防守的CT不多,那么B区爆弹是一个很好的套路。进攻方通过3、4颗烟雾弹隔绝B小和超市,借助闪光的掩护迅速铺开,占领包点下包成功率非常高;第一时间的Rush在防守方道具不充足的情况下也是很好用的;对中路控制足的情况下,从B小夹B更方便枪线的展开,也更容易撕开B区的防线;残局时B区一般不会有太多的防守队员,干摸B区也是一个常见的打法,不过对突破手的搜点破点能力的要求很高。总结这张地图的中路对T来说非常的关键,这张地图的中路CT只要不前顶换人,T通过道具优势是一定可以将中路抢下来的。只要T中路给的压力足,可以给CT的防守制造很大的麻烦,不仅可以隔开A、B包点的CT,更是可以减少打A打B之后的搜点压力。因此,如果你想成为一个好的荒漠迷城玩家,中路的一些必会道具是一定要勤加练习的。当然,CT是不能坐以待毙的,时不时的中路前顶(配合前顶烟是最好了)和闪光反清是最好的方式。如果中路实在顶不住,那么B2楼、A1和A2的反清就会显得很重要。即使抢下了中路,T方还是要去A、B包点下包。放中路,通过前顶其他的点位获取信息和地图控制。正因为常规防守经常守不住,CT会经常选择前顶拿信息,所以Mirage的T默认是我认为所有地图里最难做的一个默认。既要获取信息给足压力,同时还面临这2个甚至3个人的前顶,对个人能力的要求非常高。这张图和DustⅡ一样也是非常容易自闭的地图,当CT容易陷入把把刚把把压把把白给的怪圈,当T容易陷入被这偷一个那偷一个的尴尬境地,所以无论如何交流是最重要的。喜欢该文章的朋友们,欢迎关注点赞收藏,更多干货敬请期待。新建了一个CSGO开黑群712606195,想一起开黑上分的小伙伴们可以加一下。更多精彩文章,欢迎关注知乎专栏更多教学视频头条/抖音搜索:wasdCSGO,B站搜索:Cold_As_Ice其实昨天就可以更新这篇文章了,可是昨天突然大行动更新,肝了一天大行动!!!任务拉满!病毒爆发这个PVE我自己打再算上带朋友的打了六遍!最坑额是我每次大行动都会有队友来吸我的运气,我开箱就是蓝的,队友开箱子就是崭新暗金屠杀者Tec-9。新干员还是挺有意思的,“妹子”我开出来两个!这腿,这体型,不愧是特工!编辑于 2019-11-23 09:37反恐精英:全球攻势(CS:GO)电子竞技Steam​赞同 344​​17 条评论​分享​喜欢​收藏​申请转载​文章被以下专栏收录wasdCSGO分享一些自己对于CSGO的理解

MIRAGE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

MIRAGE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

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Meaning of mirage in English

miragenoun [ C ] uk

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/mɪˈrɑːʒ/ us

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/mɪˈrɑːʒ/

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an image, produced by very hot air, of something that seems to be far away but does not really exist

literary a hope or wish that has no chance of being achieved: Electoral victory is just a distant mirage.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hot & heat

airless

bake

baking

beat down

blisteringly

boiling

boiling hot

fug

haze

haze over

heated

overheat

scorchingly

stifling

stiflingly

stuffiness

suffocatingly

superhot

thermo-

torrid

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Unreal things and unreality

(Definition of mirage from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

mirage | American Dictionary

miragenoun [ C ] us

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/məˈrɑʒ/

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an image, produced by very hot air, of something that seems to be far away but does not really exist: Up ahead she saw a slight shimmer that looked like water, a road mirage.

(Definition of mirage from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of mirage

mirage

Pledges were given which radiated with mirages, beautiful visions which never fructified but receded further and further as they were supposed to be drawing nearer.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

With distortions of light, and mirages, the most commonplace things can be so changed as to be barely recognisable.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

Surely we have outlived those mirages of greatness that we long pursued during the twilight of empire.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

The actual figures that he says will be saved will be mirages rather than reality.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

There are always uncertainties about future energy supplies, forecasts can often turn out to be mere mirages, and it is seldom difficult to discover with hindsight what things went wrong.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

I would like to join those who are briefly reminding you of a couple of mirages by which you should not allow yourself to be led astray.

From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English

The bad referred to the high salinity of the lake, making it unfit to drink, and spirit meant the mirages often seen across the water.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

The bay is known for the mirages on the horizon during the winter months and for being a spawning ground for the firefly squid.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

The title refers to the haze on the horizon and the lyrics talk about mirages and optical illusions caused by the sun.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Mountain climbing is like crossing a desert and imagining mirages.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Mirages show an extra image or images of the miraged object, while looming, towering, stooping, and sinking do not.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

As evidence, he cites a number of anomalous phenomena, including strange mirages of land masses, groups of people, and animals in the skies.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

In the presence of randomness, regular patterns can only be mirages.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Occasionally, mirages could be seen above the water.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Over hot surfaces during warm days, unstable dry air can lead to significant refraction of the light within the air layer, which causes inferior mirages.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

See all examples of mirage

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of mirage?

 

B1

Translations of mirage

in Chinese (Traditional)

海市蜃樓,蜃景,幻景, 幻想,妄想…

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in Chinese (Simplified)

海市蜃楼,蜃景,幻景, 幻想,妄想…

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in Spanish

espejismo…

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in Portuguese

miragem…

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in more languages

in Turkish

in French

in Dutch

in Czech

in Danish

in Indonesian

in Thai

in Vietnamese

in Polish

in Swedish

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in Norwegian

in Ukrainian

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serap, ılgın…

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mirage…

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luchtspiegeling…

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fata morgana…

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luftspejling, fata morgana…

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fatamorgana…

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ภาพลวงตา…

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ảo ảnh…

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miraż, fatamorgana, złudzenie…

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hägring…

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logamaya…

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die Luftspiegelung…

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luftspeiling, fata morgana, hildring…

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міраж…

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мираж…

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mirage

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mirage

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Feb. 7, 2024, 4:18 AM ET (Forbes)

France Has Extra Mirage Fighter-Bombers. Ukraine Wants Them. A Deal Is Possible.

mirage, in optics, the deceptive appearance of a distant object or objects caused by the bending of light rays (refraction) in layers of air of varying density.Under certain conditions, such as over a stretch of pavement or desert air heated by intense sunshine, the air rapidly cools with elevation and therefore increases in density and refractive power. Sunlight reflected downward from the upper portion of an object—for example, the top of a camel in the desert—will be directed through the cool air in the normal way. Although the light would not be seen ordinarily because of the angle, it curves upward after it enters the rarefied hot air near the ground, thus being refracted to the observer’s eye as though it originated below the heated surface. A direct image of the camel is seen also because some of the reflected rays enter the eye in a straight line without being refracted. The double image seems to be that of the camel and its upside-down reflection in water. When the sky is the object of the mirage, the land is mistaken for a lake or sheet of water.

Sometimes, as over a body of water, a cool, dense layer of air underlies a heated layer. An opposite phenomenon will then prevail, in which light rays will reach the eye that were originally directed above the line of sight. Thus, an object ordinarily out of view, like a boat below the horizon, will be apparently lifted into the sky. This phenomenon is called looming.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.

What is a mirage? | Popular Science

What is a mirage? | Popular Science

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Tyler Spangler for Popular Science

Science

The secret to mirages has surprisingly little to do with your brain

That oasis in the desert is just a trick of air and light.

By

Julia Craven

|

Published Feb 9, 2023 9:00 AM EST

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In Head Trip, PopSci explores the relationship between our brains, our senses, and the strange things that happen in between.

WE’VE ALL SEEN IT in films and cartoons. Someone wanders through a hot desert for days, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a shady, watery oasis materializes several hundred yards ahead. With the little bit of strength they have left, they run toward the promise of relief from their intense thirst, only to be sorely disappointed when the vision vanishes as they reach its perceived location.  

Mirages aren’t as miraculous or vividly detailed in real life. Instead, they’re optical illusions that form from two different air densities refracting light in different ways, explains Bryce St. Clair, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins University. Due to the disproportionate temperature difference between the ground and the atmosphere above, you’re most likely to see a mirage over scorching surfaces, like desert sand, a highway, or a sidewalk. (Though if the air-temperature conditions are right, you could theoretically see a mirage anywhere.) 

“Let’s talk about the stereotypical one that you find in a desert. The sand gives off a lot of heat, so the air right above it is extremely hot, and therefore it is less dense,” says St. Clair. “As [the air] rises, it gets colder and changes density. It’s the interface between those two different densities of air that creates the optical illusion. Basically, light is refracted in a different manner.” 

A mirage forms when the light from the sky curves upward toward the cooler air and appears to be coming from the ground. We perceive this virtual image, in part, due to the angle of refraction and the refractive index of the light, or the measurement of a bending ray of light as it passes through different mediums. Light travels in a straight line when moving through a single medium with uniform density, like only cold or only hot air, but the light changes its angle when it passes between two mediums of different densities. The warping that occurs at the boundary between hot and cold air creates the watery image we perceive.

Think about one of the more commonly experienced mirages—a puddle on a hot roadway. When a driver is viewing the supposed pool of water from an angle almost parallel to the horizon, the light bends upward into their eyes. The surface between the hot and the cold air functions like a mirror for the refracted light, which most often reflects the sky, resulting in an illusion of water on the road. (The phenomenon can also result in the reflection of real objects in the distance.) 

Mirages work only when the viewer is far away from the front between the hot and cold air, though. Keeping with the roadway example, as the driver approaches the initially perceived location of the puddle, it disappears and appears to be hundreds of yards ahead again. “When you’re far away, the angle that you’re making with the surface of the hot-and-cold-air boundary is very shallow,” says Peter Tse, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth University. As you get closer, or if you come up on a hill, “your head is above that boundary. And that angle is too big to get the reflection.” 

While we may want to think of a mirage as a glitch in human visual processing, the phenomenon is considered a true optical illusion as it can be explained entirely by changes in the outside world—in this case, the properties of light. 

“When you see a face in the clouds, that’s an illusion due to the way your brain works,” says Tse. “But mirages are not due to your brain—they’re due to the physics of light.” 

To adjust for this optical phenomenon, we’d need to have regular interactions with mirages. For instance, when you look out a window, you can perceive, recognize, and understand that the outdoors and the reflection of the room behind you are different scenes. 

“Our brains are able to make sense of that in part because we’ve interacted with glass, the world, and we can move our head from side to side,” says Arthur Shapiro, a professor at American University and an editor of The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions. “We can see different objects moving on different planes.” 

So while our brains don’t create every illusion we see, if given the opportunity to interact with illusions frequently, our visual processing systems could develop the ability to adjust for the weirdness we perceive. Given that we don’t encounter mirages as often as glass windows, the probability of our brains correcting such an image as they process it is low, especially given that the watery vision we perceive is quite similar to what we would see if there were a puddle on the road.

If you spend enough time baking on the sand, though, your brain might figure out a way to overcome this illusion too. It’s that powerful. 

Correction (February 16, 2023): Peter Tse is a professor at Dartmouth College, not Dartmouth University.

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mirage是什么意思_mirage的翻译_音标_读音_用法_例句_爱词霸在线词典

ge是什么意思_mirage的翻译_音标_读音_用法_例句_爱词霸在线词典首页翻译背单词写作校对词霸下载用户反馈专栏平台登录mirage是什么意思_mirage用英语怎么说_mirage的翻译_mirage翻译成_mirage的中文意思_mirage怎么读,mirage的读音,mirage的用法,mirage的例句翻译人工翻译试试人工翻译翻译全文简明柯林斯牛津mirageGRE/TOEFL/IELTS英 [ˈmɪrɑ:ʒ]美 [məˈrɑʒ]释义n.海市蜃楼,幻景大小写变形:Mirage点击 人工翻译,了解更多 人工释义词态变化复数: mirages;实用场景例句全部海市蜃楼幻景His idea of love was a mirage.他的爱情观不现实。牛津词典Through my half-closed eyelids I began to see mirages...透过我半睁半闭的双眼,我看到了海市蜃楼。柯林斯高阶英语词典It hovered before his eyes like the mirage of an oasis.它在他眼前晃动,好像海市蜃楼里的绿洲。柯林斯高阶英语词典The girl was a mirage, cast up by his troubled mind...那个女孩是他的幻觉,是他那忧郁不安的头脑妄想出来的。柯林斯高阶英语词典The objectivity of science is a mirage.所谓科学的客观性是一种幻想。柯林斯高阶英语词典Is the recovery a mirage or for real?这次的恢复是个幻象还是真实存在的?期刊摘选Some people, all just a mirage, the beautiful illusion of his love.有些人, 终究只是一场[海市蜃楼], 美丽了自己对爱情的幻想.期刊摘选A mirage is an optical Illusionfounded on waves of heat.海市蜃楼是由大气热浪潮产生的一种光学幻觉.期刊摘选B : Oh , be cool about it . It is just a mirage.不要那么激动, 只不过是海市蜃楼而已.期刊摘选If you are lucky enough, you may be able to see a mirage from Penglai Pavilion.如果你运气好的话, 能从蓬莱阁上看到海市蜃楼.期刊摘选For example, Iraq had a program to modify aerial fuel tanks for Mirage jets.例如, 伊拉克计对其幻影战斗机的油箱进行改造.期刊摘选They lead the nation toward the mirage of the technological paradise.他们将国家引向科技天堂的梦幻中.期刊摘选A mirage is an optical illusion founded on waves of heat.海市蜃楼是由大气热潮产生的一种光学幻觉.期刊摘选A mirage is an optical illusion caused by hot air conditions.海市蜃楼是由空气引起的光学幻想.期刊摘选What if the basis of that inspiration is part or all mirage?可是万一激励内容的部分或全部都是建立在上海市蜃楼 呢 ?期刊摘选Make sure you're involved with a real person and not a mirage.你一定要确保你在和一个真实而非虚幻的人相处.期刊摘选An upgraded digital Weapon Delivery and Navigation System, WDNS, is installed in Mirage 2000.先进的数字式火控和导航系统(dns) 被幻影2000采用.期刊摘选I saw a mirage that made highway ahead seem tube flooded with water.我看见公路尽头有个海市蜃楼看起来就向充满水的管子.期刊摘选Crystalline organisations are a mirage, not a model to be followed.晶体般透明的公司就是一座空中楼阁, 不是竞相效仿的典范.期刊摘选Vision or mirage, Dr de Grey has defined the problem precisely.不管是幻想还是妄想, 德.格雷博士已经清楚地阐明了这个问题.期刊摘选Concerned about, not illusory mirage, but a real genuineness of the details and actions.牵挂, 不是虚无缥缈的海市蜃楼, 而是一种实实在在的真真切切的细节与作为.期刊摘选In fact, it is just a visionary mirage, common to many people.其实这荒漠只是视野中的“海市蜃楼”.期刊摘选The spectre of populism proved a mirage.平民主义幽灵被证明是一个沙漠幻境.期刊摘选Like the mirage, this is a result of light being refracted by clouds.这同“海市蜃楼”一样,乃云 、 光折射作用的结果.期刊摘选Perhaps we are all just chasing a mirage.也许我们都只是在追逐一个幻想.《简明英汉词典》His idea of love was a mirage.他的爱情观不现实。《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》The objectivity of science is a mirage.所谓科学的客观性是一种幻想。柯林斯例句The girl was a mirage, cast up by his troubled mind.那个女孩是他的幻觉,是他那忧郁不安的头脑妄想出来的。柯林斯例句It hovered before his eyes like the mirage of an oasis.它在他眼前晃动,好像海市蜃楼里的绿洲。柯林斯例句收起实用场景例句真题例句全部四级And at least for now, that hazy mirage in the distance?出自-2013年6月阅读原文收起真题例句英英释义Noun1. an optical illusion in which atmospheric refraction by a layer of hot air distorts or inverts reflections of distant objects2. something illusory and unattainable收起英英释义同义词vapordelusiondaydream行业词典体育幻影   大气科学蜃景   俗称“海市蜃楼”。空气光线穿过密度梯度足够大的近地气层而使光线发生显著折射时, 在空中或地平线下出现的奇异幻景。   海洋科学蜃景   物理学蜃景   曾用名“海市蜃楼”。   释义词态变化实用场景例句真题例句英英释义同义词行

What Is A Mirage, And How Does It Occur?

What Is A Mirage, And How Does It Occur?

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What Is A Mirage, And How Does It Occur?

Some readers will be familiar with a scene in a movie depicting a lost person seeing a distant "lush oasis" in the desert, only to find nothing but sand upon arrival. This optical phenomenon is known as a mirage.A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon that is the result of the refraction of light rays, causing distant objects to appear much closer than they are. It typically occurs on warm days when surface and overlying air temperatures are much warmer than the air above it in the atmosphere.This phenomenon can also be seen when you travel on a long stretch of road on a hot day, and you spot a large puddle of water at a distance. As you approach it, it continues to move further away.Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, and you are not hallucinating. What you experience is nothing more than an optical distortion called a mirage. In this article, we explore what precisely a mirage is, how it is formed, and also look at the different types of mirages.What Is A Mirage?A mirage needs a combination of different variables to be in place for this phenomenon to take shape. Before we delve into a thorough explanation, it is important to have a short description to summarize what a mirage is:

Mirage DefinitionA mirage is an optical distortion that occurs naturally due to the refraction of light rays that creates a deceptive appearance of a distant object. It typically occurs on a hot day when the surface temperature and the air directly above it are much warmer than the air higher up in the atmosphere.

It is a simplified and concise summary of an event that needs a more detailed explanation to understand how it occurs and what mechanisms are at play during the process.How Is A Mirage Formed?The word mirage was directly borrowed from the french verb, mirer, which originated from the Latin word, mirari, which translates to "mirror" or "to look at." As you will shortly learn, this is quite an accurate description of the phenomenon.Mirages can be divided into two types of optical distortions:Inferior MirageSuperior MirageBy looking at them individually, it will soon become clear how each phenomenon is formed and why we see (or perceive) the resulting image in the way we do.Inferior MirageThe most familiar and commonly occurring form of this optical distortion is the inferior mirage. It can be seen on a hot day while traveling on a long stretch of road or in the desert, where the phenomenon first gained wide recognition.A mirage is capable of producing a misplaced image of an object due to the capability of light to refract (bend) in a medium with non-uniform uniform attributes.It is widely assumed that light travels in a straight path, especially at a speed of 299 792 kilometers per second (186 282 miles per second). In the vacuum of space, it does indeed travel in a straight line.When traveling through a medium like the atmosphere, the difference in air density at different altitudes allows light to bend. This is because light always follows the quickest path, not the shortest path.The illustration below will clarify how and why light behaves in this fashion and how it contributes to the creation of a mirage:Illustration showing how an Inferior Mirage is formed. Click on the image for a larger view.By making use of the illustration above, it will be much easier to explain and understand how an inferior mirage gets formed.On a hot day, the Sun rapidly warms up the Earth's surface, which in turn heats the air directly above the ground. It creates a substantial difference in air temperature between the warm air near the surface and the colder air above it.A medium with non-uniform properties has now been created with cold air, which is optically more dense, situated above warm air, which is optically less dense. Since light always follows the quickest past, and warm air with less resistance is much faster to travel through, the light will bend towards the hot air close to the ground. As the red line in the illustration shows, light travels from objects higher up in the colder air to the warm air close to the ground before bending back towards the eyesight of the observer.The position where the light is not refracted anymore but reflects up towards the observer is called the point of total internal reflection. It is at this location where you will perceive the phenomenon to be located, when the actual object may, in fact, be hundreds of miles away.To simplify and make the description of a mirage easy to understand, an identical inverted image of the palm trees and water was used in the illustration. Although this is possible, more often than not, the objects in a mirage may appear to look like something it is not.For example, the "water" you see may be nothing more than the blue sky reflected on the ground, and the palm trees may be a completely different object that got distorted as the light traveled through layers of hot and cold air. There may not even be a real object at all.In summary:An inferior mirage appears as a result of light bending towards warm air close to the ground, as the red line indicates.It is possible since light follows the quickest (not shortest) path, which, in this case, is the warmer air near the ground, which provides less optical resistance.The observer sees the distorted image much closer than it really is since the image is viewed via a direct line of sight by the observer, as indicated by the blue line.The mirage is an optical distortion, meaning the image you see may be a distorted view of an actual object much further away. It can also show distortions that are not even part of the real object (e.g., the sky). It may even display items that don't even exist.Superior MirageA superior mirage operates on precisely the same principles as an inferior mirage but has the exact opposite effect. Instead of showing an object much closer than it is, it displays an image of a distant object (that may be entirely out of view) on or above the horizon.This type of mirage is a result of cold air that is trapped underneath a layer of warm air. This phenomenon is called temperature inversion (which you can read more about in this article.) As a result, light bends up, instead of down, towards the warmer air.The illustration below will help to describe how a superior mirage gets formed:Illustration showing how an Superior Mirage is formed. Click on the image for a larger view.By making use of the illustration above, it will be easier to explain and understand how a superior mirage gets formed.A superior mirage mostly occurs over the colder waters of the ocean or in the Arctic. The cold surface of the water or ice cools down the air directly above it, with a layer of warmer air lying on top of it.In the case of this phenomenon, the light gets refracted up towards the warmer air, where it can travel faster before getting reflected back down towards the sight of the observer, as indicated by the red line in the illustration.As a result, the observer perceives the object to hover above his/her eyesight and the horizon, as indicated by the blue line in the illustration. This occurrence is called looming.Sometimes, you can observe this phenomenon while standing on the shoreline and watch a boat on the horizon, which seems to float in the air some distance above the water.Superior mirages also occur when objects too far away to see due to their distance & curvature of the planet "appears" above the horizon. This is possible due to the bending of light up towards the warmer air and then back down to the observer far away.In summary:A superior mirage appears as a result of light bending up towards warmer air situated above colder air near the surface, as the red line indicates.It is possible since light follows the quickest (not shortest) path, which, in this case, is the warmer air higher in the atmosphere, which provides less optical resistance.The observer sees the distorted image "floating" above the horizon since the image is viewed via a direct line of sight, as indicated by the blue line.ConclusionAs this article illustrated, a mirage is not your eyes playing tricks on you. It is a real distorted image you see as a result of the refraction (bending) and reflecting of light. It is your brain that is programmed to interpret that what you see is something completely different. Often, it is the image of an actual object at a distant location, sometimes it is a distorted image that appears as something completely different, and sometimes there is no real object at all. Through this post, you learned what a mirage is, what the different types of mirages are, and how each one develops.Never miss out again when another interesting and helpful article is released and stay updated, while also receiving helpful tips & information by simply  clicking on this link .Until next time, keep your eye on the weather!

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From hovering ships to cities in the sky: a short, strange history of the mirage | National Geographic

hovering ships to cities in the sky: a short, strange history of the mirage | National GeographicMagazinesTV ScheduleDisney+National GeographicNational GeographicNational GeographicScienceTravelAnimalsCulture & HistoryEnvironmentScienceTravelAnimalsCulture & HistoryEnvironmentScienceFrom hovering ships to cities in the sky: a short, strange history of the mirageAn image of a 'flying' tanker off Cornwall recently went viral. But the optical phenomenon of the mirage is no stranger to astonishment, doubt – and superstition. By Simon IngramPublished 20 Mar 2021, 07:06 GMTTourists waiting at sunset in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni, southwest Bolivia, the largest salt lake in the world. In an illusion caused by refracted light, mountains rise from a mirage as if from water in the background. 

Photograph by Hemis, AlamyIN early March 2021 when the internet caught hold of David Morris’s photograph of a large tanker ‘flying’ above the Cornwall horizon, responses ran wild.

Some had fun with the headline semantics (a ‘floating ship’ – isn’t that normal? LOL.) Others suggested digital tampering, while a few speculated the very large and obvious ship was being used to test radical new technology.

Morris, who had been walking his dog on the coastline near Gillan, near Falmouth, spotted the tanker on February 26 – the same day a similar vision was observed off the coast of Aberdeen. According to Morris, the ship 'looked and behaved like normal', as he observed it, snapping a series of pictures before returning attention to his dog.

It wasn’t long before the correct phenomenon of optical physics was nailed down, or thereabouts: what Morris had photographed was probably a rare illusion similar to a mirage, called looming. But so counter-intuitive are the physics – and so uncanny are the results – few could pithily explain what was happening in the image, and how.

They aren't alone. This group of atmospheric quirks have amazed, tricked, confused – and struck fear – into the minds of travellers for centuries. (Pictures: This photographer's abstract images of the world look like optical illusions.)

David Morris's image of a container ship off the coast of Cornwall as been attributed to a superior mirage, or 'fata morgana.' It is actually more likely to be a similar phenomenon called 'looming.'

Photograph by David Morris, APEX News and PicturesFantastic light

Looming belongs to a group of phenomena that includes superior mirages, inferior mirages, towering, stooping and sinking, all of which cause an object caught amidst a specific set of atmospheric conditions – a boat, say – to exhibit a range of visual eccentricities when viewed from afar.

These range from appearing stretched, squashed, duplicated, mirrored or elevated according to our perception. Due to the curvature of the Earth, this can also result in objects below the horizon becoming visible when ordinarily they wouldn’t – or even appearing raised above it, as if flying.  

“Both superior mirage and looming give the appearance that a distant object is above the horizon when it is actually on it or sometimes hidden below it,” says Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society. Given the lack of reflection or duplication in Morris’s photograph, “if only a single image of a distant object is seen, then we use the term looming.”

The skyline of Chicago – including the iconic Sears Tower – appears over the skyline of Lake Michigan. Due to the curvature of the earth, the city isn't visible over the lake from here: the image is a refraction of the real skyline projected above the horizon. Like the boat in David Morris's image, this is an example of 'looming.' 

Photograph by Kenneth Keifer, AlamyThe cause in all cases is the conditions just above the water, which influence the path of light through air layers of different temperatures, and therefore densities. Light being the currency of sight, this can lead to some dramatic results.

“A superior mirage or looming is caused when air near the Earth’s surface is colder than the air above it – a temperature inversion,” says Bentley. “The difference in temperature of the air also means a difference in density: warmer air is less dense than colder air. As light travels through air of different density it is refracted, or bent. You see this when you put a pencil in water, because water and air are a different density.” For the same reason that looking side-on at that pencil makes it look broken, looking down on an object in water can be deceptive, too, with it often appearing in a different position beneath the surface to the reality. 

A Land Rover is photographed driving across Afghanistan's Dasht-e Margo – 'Desert of Death' – in this vintage National Geographic image. Common in hot conditions, the pale areas around the vehicle are actually refractions of the light from the sky, caused by a higher temperature of air near the ground. The shimmer caused by this phenomenon can make it appear like water to an observer – a cruel trick in a dry place, leading to mirage's association with wishful hallucinations.

Photograph by Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic Image CollectionIn the case of a superior mirage, often generated in the cool air above water, the light bends downwards from an object through thickening air densities – making any image seen by an observer appear elevated. The reverse, where air close to the ground is hotter than that above it, can cause an inferior mirage – in which light bends upwards toward the observer, creating an optical illusion below the horizon.

In the latter case think the shimmers seen above hot asphalt, or the weird puddles of light on a desert skyline. Essentially, the mirages of popular imagination – though the term is often used inaccurately. If you’re a grasping through the desert and see an ice cream van or a fridge full of mineral water appear in front of you, you are hallucinating. An inferior mirage, while clearly capable of playing with your mind, is purely optical; a refraction of the sky, usually. 

The legend of the 'Flying Dutchman', said to originated from the days of the Dutch East India Company, concerned a ghost ship doomed to sail the seas without harbour. Reports of 'hovering ships' were often attributed to the story, and considered by sailors to be harbingers of disaster at sea. But they could have simply been seeing a mirage. 

Photograph by North Wind Picture Archives, AlamyGiven its tendency to resemble rippling water in hot conditions such as a desert, it's a cruel trick to play on any parched traveller – and in any case, all of this rests on what the light is telling your brain, and the logical comparisons that then draws. Which can of course have consequences beyond the simply visual.

Meteorology meets mythology

The seemingly fantastical science of mirages has on occasion intertwined with the actually fantastical. Centuries ago, long before darkroom trickery or the anything-goes digital world of Photoshop, superior mirages were scaring the daylights out of already superstitious sailors. The old legend of the Flying Dutchman, a vengeful ghost clipper, was often associated with any peculiar sightings of a ship at sea, and one elevated off the water or exhibiting an inverse reflection – thus apparently sailing upside down – would certainly qualify. Such sightings were considered bad omens, but both are attributable to mirages, or in the case of a ‘flying’ ship, looming.

Another term often employed to describe an optical illusion on the horizon is fata morgana – named for Morgan le Fey, the legendary magical half-sister of King Arthur who was infamous for her visual trickery. The phenomenon was given an Italian term due to a tendency to occur in the Straits of Messina, off Sicily and is often a synonym for any kind of mirage, though there are different physics at play in each.

Less well known is its meteorological sister, the fata bromosa – another optical illusion that gives the appearance of a mist that seems to envelop (and eject) objects close to the horizon. The translation is ‘fairy fog.’

Spooks, scams and cities in the sky

Away from the water, a persistent report from 19th century travellers detailed mysterious cityscapes appearing in the sky above certain Arctic regions. This was given a bizarrely specific – not to mention enterprising – twist when Richard Willoughby, a gold prospector in Alaska, claimed to have photographed such a ‘silent city’ in the sky above a glacier near Juneau in 1888. His explanation was that it was some sort of atmospheric reflection of a steepled, faraway town, perhaps in Arctic Russia.

(Read: In the polar night of Russia's far north, legends and lives are frozen in time.)

Willoughby’s photo was almost undoubtedly a ruse to make a quick buck: his image was later identified as being a particularly moody photograph of Bristol, complete with identifiable landmarks, probably purchased by the prospector as a job lot with some camera gear. It proved lucrative; Willoughby made meaningful money selling prints of the shot, and claimed before his death to have sold the original lantern slide for $500.  

Richard Willoughby's infamous image of the 'Silent City,' which he reputedly photographed in 1888 above a glacier near Juneau, Alaska. Though widely debunked – identified as a view of the English city of Bristol taken from Brandon Hill. The identity of the true photographer is unknown, but is reputed to have been a local photographer named Harvey Barton, who may have sold Willoughby the negative as part of a job lot of photo gear.  

Photograph by The History Collection, AlamyRuse or not, others reported the mirage in other locations in Alaska both before or after Willoughby's 'proof'. We know today that mirages are common in polar regions due to favourable conditions, but some of the descriptions defied any easy explanation. In 1889 The New York Times ran the observations of a traveller named L.B. French, who claimed to have seen a ‘specter city’ so distinct he recalled seeing “houses, streets and well defined trees… here and there rose tall spires over huge buildings with appeared to be ancient mosques or cathedrals.”

Almost a decade later in 1897, the climbers C.W. Thornton and Prince Luigi Amedeo – the latter better known as the Duke of Abruzzi – had a similar vision from the top of Mount St Elias. Thornton was reported saying that "It was so distinct that it required faith to believe that it was not really a city." Both described it as European in appearance.

The San Fransisco Call of 28 April 1901 carry the story of an expedition that intended to look for the Silent City mirage - following reports from a variety of travellers of such a spectacle in the sky above Alaska. Willoughby's photograph, while now debunked as an opportunistic fraud, was clearly designed to capitalise on a genuine phenomenon. 

Photograph by California Digital Newspaper CollectionA scientist on the expedition, Dr Filipo de Filippi, cannily likened the vision to a desert mirage, describing its features as a 'marvellous spectacle... Their outlines underwent changes before our very eyes, assuming the forms of spires, belfries, minarets and architectural outlines of fantastic cathedrals, all of which slowly appeared and disappeared to be succeeded by buildings of lesser height, severely rectilinear.”  

Either way, so unknown and mystical was Alaska, a refracted image of an English city appearing in the sky above a location over 4,000 miles was apparently accepted as simply an intriguing quirk of a peculiar region – despite experts of the time expressing grave doubt such a thing was possible.

Caught on video

This if anything, attests to the peculiar and unpredictable nature of the mirage. And city-sized visions are not unknown – most dramatically evidenced by recent scenes captured on video from China, such as one in 2015 showing the ominous shapes of high rises in the sky, and another from 2019 above Yantai, with even fine details like cranes visible. 

What all of these phenomena apparently share is their unpredictability: it's difficult to know when they will occur, or – as evidenced by all – where they will appear. And as David Morris's picture of that ‘hovering’ ship neatly demonstrates, after centuries of mystique the mirage's capability to confound and amaze shows no signs of diminishing. 

 

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Mirages and other atomospheric optic phenomena

rages and other atomospheric optic phenomena Atmospheric Refraction The phenomenon of refraction is responsible for our ability to focus images with a lens or our eye. The refraction, or bending of light, depends upon the index of refraction of the transmitting medium. The amount of bending can be very large at the surface of a lens because of its large index of refraction, typically about n= 1.5.

A number of refraction phenomena can be observed in the atmosphere, but the conditions are quite different because the index of refraction of the air is very small, it being a nearly transparent medium. The index of refraction of air at standard temperature and pressure (STP) is n= 1.00029 compared to exactly 1 for a vacuum. The interesting observations of refraction effects in the atmosphere arise from the fact that the index of refraction varies with temperature and pressure, and the fact that distances for observation can be very large so that a small amount of refraction produces observable effects. Refraction leads to bending of the light rays toward the slower medium at an interface, so in air the light will tend to bend toward the area of greater pressure since the light speed decreases with increasing pressure. It will also tend to bend toward the area of lower temperature since the light speed will be slightly lower.

For light coming from outside the Earth's atmosphere, the biggest influence on the light speed is the atmospheric pressure. Incoming light rays from the Sun or stars will be bent downward by refraction toward the Earth.

The bending is significant mainly when the light is coming from near the horizon when the light will travel through a long pathway of air. For the Sun near sunset, the refraction will cause the Sun to appear higher in the sky than it is. Because of this refraction, the Sun is actually past the direction tangent to the Earth when you see the big red Sun effect and, on rare occasions, the green flash. Stars near the horizon will likewise appear higher in the sky than they are because of this refraction.

Some of the visible effects of refraction in the atmosphere are mirages, looming, a flattened Sun near the horizon, the green flash, red sunsets, and twinkling of stars IndexAtmospheric optics conceptsYoung, Introduction to MiragesGreenler,

Ch 7NIST, Air index tableHecht, 2nd Ed,

Sec 4.2

  HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back Mirages

Mirages are produced by atmospheric refraction and are mainly seen in settings where there are large variations in the air temperature, such as in deserts or over cold bodies of water. The refraction which occurs near the Earth's surface is mainly due to temperature gradients where the light rays will be bent toward the cooler side of a given interface.

The photograph above was taken on a hot Arizona highway in summer. Refraction bends the light rays from the bright sky upward from the hot surface producing a mirage which has the appearance of a wet surface. Gallant refers to this kind of mirage as a "puddle mirage". The light from the vehicles ahead which moves toward the hot surface is refracted back upward, producing mirage images below the vehicles.

The inferior mirage is produced when light rays from an object approach a hotter region and are refracted away from the hot area. In the desert mirage, the rays approaching the hot surface are turned upward away from the surface. If those upward rays are intercepted by your eye, you see the mirage image appearing below the actual object. Following the pattern of Greenler to demonstrate this kind of mirage, the amounts of curvature shown in the illustration are greatly exaggerated. Such inferior mirages are typically seen from a large distance and the curvatures are much less that those illustrated. The Vanishing Line

Considering the desert example, the rays from an object will be refracted upward toward the cooler air region. There can be a level on the object such that all rays from points below that level will be refracted over the observer's position. Points below that "vanishing line" on the object will not be seen by the observer. The observer can see both the object above the vanishing line, and corresponding points in the inferior mirage below that level. The above illustration is patterned after one in Greenler, based on his observations of lakes in northern latitudes. The vanishing line limits the amount of the distant shore line that is visible, and an inferior mirage is exhibited below the vanishing line. The above illustration shows the inferior mirage at the same vertical scale as the object, but that is not necessarily the case. Greenler notes that the inferior mirage is often vertically compressed. With a greater viewing distance, the vanishing line will rise so that less of the object is seen. Greenler notes that with a small change in viewing height, like stooping down, a dramatic change in the vanishing line may occur. Thanks to Travis Finley for photography and discussion of mirages and the nature of mirages of the sky.

Some aspects of the above graphic are hypothetical - that is, I have never seen one like it. But the link above to Atmospheric Optics shows that the refracted light from the sky does refract to make the mirage, replacing the view of the water below the geometrical horizon. As depicted above, the refracted light from the sky matches in brightness and hue the direct light from the sky, which seems unlikely. I would expect a discernable border between the direct view of the sky and the refracted light from the sky. The extent of the mirage of the sky is placed at the extent of the trees in the mirage of the islands, but that extent would presumably depend on the temperature profile of air around the islands.

While it is difficult to anticipate the detailed appearance of a mirage, it does appear that those details arise from the nature of the profile of air temperature vs height. Again making use of the work of Robert Greenler with his permission, consider the proposed set of light pathways leading to one of the interesting sailing ship images from northern seas.

These remarkable sketches of the mirages associated with sailing ships were published by S. Vince, "Observations on an Unusual Refraction of the Air, with Remarks on the Variation to Which the Lower Parts of the Atmosphere Are Sometimes Subject", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 89, 436 [1799].

The illustration below, which is redrawn with permission from Greenler, shows how the left hand image above might have been produced by refraction from the vertical variation of the air temperature. An increase in temperature produces a slight decrease in the index of refraction, corresponding to a slight increase in light speed in the air. From a table published by NIST the decrease in the index is from n=1.0002718 at 20°C to 1.000243285 at 50°C. The tiny change in light speed over large distances produces the visible refraction effects.

Superior Images and False Horizons A superior image can be produced when warm air exists over cold water. Again, using the pattern from Greenler, the vertical scale and the curvature are greatly exaggerated to show the effect. Such images are often seen at great distances in the arctic region when the air is significantly warmer than the water. Since the geometry of the mirage images depends on the details of the temperature contour, a great variety of mirage images can be formed.

The superior mirage may appear as an inverted image above the view of the real object. Examples from the Gurney Journey

An image like this ship that appears to be floating in midair, from Explorersweb may not be classified as a mirage, but as a missing horizon. The refraction plus reflection and haze may obscure the view of the horizon, although in this case with close examination you can find the subtle horizon.

Examples are shown on a YouTube video on false horizons A YouTube video on boats floating in air and another describing the same phenomenon show examples of false horizons. Such superior images are sometimes referred to as "looming" or as fata morganas. Looming may be distinguished from the missing horizon phenomenon by the fact that the water level rises with the ship. Looming is the phenomenon which can allow you to see a distant ship when it is geometrically below the horizon. IndexAtmospheric optics conceptsYoung, Introduction to MiragesYoung BibliographyGreenler,

Ch 7Gallant,

Ch 2   HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back Looming The looming effect is the result of a superior mirage. A typical example is a mirage of a ship formed over cool water in an area where the temperature increases with height. Refraction bends light down toward the water in this case. Sailors have long been aware that under the proper conditions they could see a ship which was geometrically over the horizon, just as we can see the red Sun after it has set below the horizon because of atmospheric refraction. They would say that the ship is "looming" over the horizon. Since the visability of this mirage depends upon the details of the temperature contour of the air over the water, there can be great variety in these mirage images. The sailors observed that the mirages were sometimes stretched in the vertical direction, which they called "towering", and were sometimes compressed, which they called "stooping".

There is a rich literature of the varieties of looming mirages, particularly from the Arctic region. Gallant relates some of these stories. Looming mirages may appear to be nearby, and may appear to be greatly magnified (towering). The polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen once nearly shot one of his sled dogs, thinking it was a polar bear because it formed an enlarged mirage. A ship's captain off Newfoundland saw what he thought was a white boat ahead and way about to turn to avoid ramming it, when it flapped its wings and flew away. That is dramatic "towering" when a seagull appears like a boat!

"The crew of a Canadian ship in the Arctic reported the mirage of a sailing ship off in the distance, upside down. The image was so sharp that the crew could make out the ropes in the rigging and could see people moving about on the deck. Two months later, the ships actually met. When the captains compared their ships' logs, they found that at the time of the sighting the two ships had been 80 miles apart!" (Gallant) The suggested explanation for a visible mirage at such a great distance is the observation of light traveling a long distance when a layer of cooler and denser air is sandwiched between two layers of warmer air (a temperature inversion).

The ship mirage image above is from a 1799 article by S. Vance titled "Observations on an Unusual Horizontal Refraction of the Air, with Remarks on the Variations to Which the Lower Parts of the Atmosphere Are Sometimes Subject", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 89,436.

This illustration of how light can be trapped in a cold layer of the atmosphere is after Robert Greenler. He gives an example of a photograph of the Alaska Range of mountains from the University of Alaska, which is over a hundred miles away.

Looming mirage images have also been called the "fata morgana" (see wiki). "It is an Italian term named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, from a belief that these mirages, often seen in the Strait of Messina, were fairy castles in the air or false land created by her witchcraft to lure sailors to their deaths." "Morgana (Breton equivalent of sea woman) according to a Celtic legend and Arthurian romance, was a fairy, half-sister of King Arthur, who exhibited her power by the mirage. Italian poets represent her as dwelling in a crystal palace beneath the waves. Hence, presumably, the name Fata Morgana (Italian for Morgan le Fay, or Morgan the fairy) was given, centuries ago, to those complicated mirages that occasionally appear over the strait of Messina ... molding the bluffs and houses on the opposite shore into wondrous castles that, alike, tower into the sky and sink beneath the surface; nor is it strange that this poetical name should have become generic, as it has, for all such multiple mirages, whenever they occur." (Humphreys, W. J., "Physics of the Air", 3rd Ed, Dover, 1940. Reprint 1964, pp 474-5.)

Below are links to posted examples of looming mirages:

Looming Sun mirageGreen flash and towering island mirage

Towering arctic mirage, AlaskaShips in midair - Wiki

IndexAtmospheric optics conceptsLoomingGreenler, Ch 7Gallant,

Ch 2   HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back Twinkling Star twinkling is caused by nonuniformity in the index of refraction caused by turbulence of the air through which the light from the stars travel. Any boundary where the index of refraction changes will experience bending, or refraction, of the light. Stars are so distant that they appear as points of light, so that point of light will appear to dance about as it encounters different "cells" of the atmosphere which have different temperatures and/or densities. Planets are close enough that they appear as disks of light which tend to average the light over multiple cells of the atmosphere and they appear as steadier, even though they are not perceived to be larger than stars by the unaided eye. IndexAtmospheric optics conceptsGreenler,

Ch 7   HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back Pillars Sun pillars are caused by reflection from falling ice crystals, unlike the 22° halo and sun dogs which are also associated with such ice crystals, but are refraction phenomena. Ice crystals in the atmosphere often form hexagonal flat crystals. As such crystals fall through the atmosphere and interact with the air, they tend to orient parallel to the Earth, but have enough variation in their angles to reflect a low Sun's rays downward to an observers eyes from various heights. This gives the appearance of a pillar of light in the sky. Pillars can also produced by the bright lights of a city at night, but those are divergent sources and the light columns are much narrower - like vertical lines of light. Only those ice crystals in a very narrow vertical column from the light source can reflect to a viewer's eyes.

Below are links to posted examples of Sun pillars and other light pillar images:

Astronomy Picture of the DayWeather OnlineLight Pillar wikiEarthSky

IndexAtmospheric optics conceptsGreenler,

Ch 3   HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back Crepuscular Rays Rays or beams of light may appear to fan out radially from a low sun when the cloud structure is right. The rays from the sun, 93 million miles away, are parallel - but in the setting of the crepuscular rays they appear to diverge because of perspective narrowing over the long path on which they are visible (like the apparent converging of railroad tracks when you look down a long straight track.) Under rare conditions the crepuscular rays extend all the way across the sky and appear to converge back together on the horizon opposite the sun. This sketch attempts to match the perspective of the image of crepuscular rays over Reno, Nevada below. Below are links to posted examples of crepuscular rays:

Rays over Reno from WikiRays over Plymouth Sound, UK from WikiSpace rays over India, wikiAstro Bob

IndexAtmospheric optics concepts   HyperPhysics***** Light and Vision R Nave Go Back