I was reading this article on the lake eiree mirage.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/07/31/erie_pla.html?category=earth&guid=20060731110030
If slight water evaporation could amplify light from the other shore, would mass amounts of water amplify the skys?
2006-07-31 11:01:13 · 5 answers · asked by abehagenston 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No it would not work as you expect.
The explanation for Lake Eiree is simple and quite common.
It is caused by refraction.
If you fire a beam of light into say a glass block. As the light passes into the block it moves from a low (air) to a high (glass) refractive index and is "bent" towards the normal. The normal is a line drawn at right angles to the surface of the block. If the beam passes from glass to air, the bending is away from the normal.
The refractive index of air is determined by the refractive index of each of the gasses making it up. The gas with the greatest refractive index is water vapour, hence it is the water vapour content that determines the final refractive index.
A ray of light launched from one shore of the lake will travel in a straight line. The earth curves away below it and so the ray climbs higher into the atmosphere as it travels. If the atmosphere contains a lot of water vapour low down and a lot less higher up, and there is little or no wind to cause turbulence, the ray will move through an area of high refractive index into an area of low refractive index. This causes refraction (bending) of the ray away from the normal, that is towards the earth. In this way the ray refracts (bends) around the curvature of the earth.
If a wind starts to blow the atmosphere starts to mix up because of turbulence and the effect will vannish.
This does not affect just light but also radio signals, particularly in the microwave region and of course radar. This can lead to some interesting interference problems.
2006-07-31 12:25:38 · answer #1 · answered by Stewart H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, nobody has ever put a telescope under water. The idea is to get as little between you and what you are looking at as possible. That is why Hubble is in orbit, to get it above the atmosphere.
2006-07-31 18:55:13 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. In Antarctica they buried a special telescope deep in the ice. It's purpose is to detect neutrinos and it faces down. This is because they use the Earth to filter out "noise". Let me repeat. It faces down. You can look it up under "Neutrino telescopes" or go to http://www.answers.com/topic/antarctic-muon-and-neutrino-detector-array
Hope this helps.
2006-07-31 19:28:36 · answer #3 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I presume there has been many a telescope that has gone
down with the sinking ship...
I don't believe any have been submerged on purpose...
2006-07-31 18:46:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The efect would make the image blurred and impossible to tell what it is.
2006-08-01 02:12:50 · answer #5 · answered by Eric X 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋