The Green Flash

I became aware of "the green flash" the first time I visited Hawaii. In order to get ready for the vacation, I read all sorts of information about the islands and one brochure or article (I don't remember now) mentioned that a few lucky people get to see the "green flash" at sunrise or sunset.

I was hooked...what was the green flash? Nowadays, I'd look up a new term or phrase on the internet to find out more, but back then, there was no internet to tell me about the green flash. I went to a library and found that Jules Verne wrote about the green flash at the turn of the last century. I discovered that a green flash occurs when the conditions are perfect and a quick flash of green occurs as the sun is setting or even more rarely when the sun is rising. Naturally I went looking for the elusive green flash on that vacation, and I never saw it.

Many years later we were living on the island of Guam. With a whole year of sunsets to look at, I diligently searched for the green flash and I was rewarded one time. It was magical. It lasted less than a minute and all the people I was with saw it too.

Fast forward to 2 nights ago. I'm taking photos of a beautiful sunset from my back deck. When I looked at the pictures, I saw the green flash. I did not see it when it happened, but I captured a picture of it.

The picture is not edited...the color is off, but there is a green "flash"  around the sun. I don't know if this "counts" as I did not see it first hand...but I have a picture of it. The green flash does exist.