It's True: The Sun Really Does Flash Green

The mythical green flash at sunset isn't actually a myth! Stefan explains why it happens, and how you can see it.
Hosted by: Stefan Chin
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• Green Flash Sunset Mau...

[@SciShow]

This episode was re-uploaded to fix an accidental mislabeling of the troposphere. Thank you for alerting us when we've made an error! -Sarah Meismer (graphics)

[@zoofan9280]

SciShow you made me think my iPad broke lol

[@leecrawford6560]

SciShow this is really cool Thank you

[@sanasohail1521]

SciShow ohh I see 😊

[@massimookissed1023]

Sarah fixes the atmosphere. CO2 & Ozone are on the to-do list.

[@TheReZisTLust]

So sarah caught the error?

[@XxSEETH3RxX]

Here in Florida at a placed called Sanibel Island it happens there it seems more than anywhere in Florida at sunset.

[@jimsagubigula7337]

Does anyone have a video or an image of a green ray?

[@matthewstewart5566]

So when the Sun flashes green it's "awesome", when I flash Green hank takes out a restraining order on me

[@leecrawford6560]

matthew stewart oh boy 😂🤣

[@luciferangelica]

yeah? but john's cool with it?

[@matthewstewart5566]

luciferangelica Yeah, johns a durty boy

[@sonarbuge7958]

matthew stewart Actually a funny comment, Not like all these Hanks and spam commenters

[@swingardium706]

"Up is down... well that's just maddeningly unhelpful."

[@maximkazhenkov11]

That's even more than less than helpful.

[@geologist5838]

I was waiting for the PoC reference!

[@iamhearelshaddai]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJqngKuAhcqcqtk

[@FloridaStraitsSailing]

@@geologist5838 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWSUh5Rrnqhlmck

[@FloridaStraitsSailing]

@@maximkazhenkov11 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWSUh5Rrnqhlmck

[@BlankBrain]

I saw a green flash from the coast of Oregon in the winter. I actually had a camera set up on a tripod in just case it happened. It was the most beautiful green I've ever seen. I immediately clicked the bulb. When I got my slides back from the developer, there was nothing but the sunset as it looked after the flash. So it lasted less than my reaction time.

[@Dana-ki6vs]

I am assuming this was sunrise? Considering Oregon in on the West Coast

[@BlankBrain]

@@Dana-ki6vs In my part of Oregon the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The Pacific is to the west.

[@eingyi2500]

​@@BlankBrain "in my part of oregon" 😂

[@that1valentian769]

The Green Flash sounds like The Flash’s newest super villain.

[@adrianortega1431]

Or the lovechild of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen.

[@kenny-hm9ih]

Better than Devoe

[@Lucky10279]

Yeah kinda. I think Cisco would be upset if he didn't get to pick the name though. 🙂 But now I kind of want the next villain to have that name.

[@AZOffRoadster]

Back when I was a kid doing bong hits, a green flash was what happened when you took too big a hit and your sinuses weren't clear.

[@RussellSubedi]

I bet his supersuit is green and animated too.

[@LprogressivesANDliberals]

So Pirates of the Caribbean was right 😭

[@lunamoonthereturnofgod8169]

Wung Her du

[@wierdalien1]

Wung Her pirates of the carribean was right about a lot of things

[@Neo2266.]

*_I’VE GOT A JAR OF DIRT_*

[@Elvinpareya1]

And guess what's inside it

[@latiostheinkling8250]

@@Elvinpareya1 *DIIIIRT*

[@Danielsingerymusic]

Bless you

[@gibranhenriquedesouza2843]

Green Flash - The last lightbender.

[@DanielFoland]

1:36 took a moment, but I figured out why this is true after an incident of reflection

[@woodfur00]

**claps**

[@jivejunior8753]

Why this isn't top comment is a mystery to me.

[@jessegriffin8775]

I saw a sunrise green flash sitting on a sand dune on the beach of Isle of Palms, South Carolina on July 3rd, 1958. It was the most brilliant color of green I had ever seen. I never found out about the phenomenon until forty years later when I was online and read about it. I was so glad to know it was real.

[@williamoldaker5348]

2:30 second son heck more like nuclear blast on the horizon.

[@SmartinatorPlus]

hahahahah

[@512TheWolf512]

That's the work of an enemy stand

[@SmartinatorPlus]

Eugene InLaw US bombing Japan

[@PuddintameXYZ]

And here I was thinking my grandmother had messed up when she painted the sun like a mushroom cloud in her old painting.

[@FloridaStraitsSailing]

@@SmartinatorPlus kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWSUh5Rrnqhlmck

[@aedr04]

The green flash... this should be my hero academia's midoriya's hero name... the last bit of "hope" before the darkness sets.

[@jakjak9797]

The Green Flash? sounds like a certain super fast hero just got a power ring of lanterns light :P

[@xL1GHTBR1NG3Rx]

jak jak Just an ordinary Flash, after he pledged to become carbon neutral by 2020.

[@maerosss]

"I reckon I seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion. The last glimpse of sunset, a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing it. Some claim to have seen it who ain't. And some say-" "It signals when a soul comes back to this world from the dead."

[@blackholeentry3489]

My wife and I have a home 110 miles north of San Francisco situated 1100' above sea level with an excellent view of the ocean. Off shore fog frequently interferes with the sunset, but at least half the time it is clear enough that we see the green flash well about 2/3rds of the time.

[@karmasutra4774]

I saw it once

[@d_wang9836]

The sun is secertly a part of the Green Lantern Force

[@adrianortega1431]

Duwang Man The sun is Mogo's drinking buddy.

[@Lucky10279]

Lol

[@stefanzigic7431]

Dont worry its Captain Jack Sparrow coming back from Davy Jones locker

[@Jakubanakin]

I feel like now we need an episode about mirages...

[@spademann]

3:14 - 3:17 I really enjoy that you included real-time footage to provide an example for us all to see. Thanks for confirmation of scientific principles!

[@justnoah2073]

It signals when a soul comes back from the dead!

[@robertgraham399]

I've always wanted to know - If an aircraft flew at the right speed toward the sunset, at the right moment that the green flash would happen, could the green flash be prolonged?

[@animistchannel2983]

Video: "Green Flash - Sixty Symbols" Brady Haran & Pete Lawrence filmed detailed stages of green flash in at the big observatory in Paranal, Chile.

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

Good video imho.

[@shoopoopie1]

dusk form lycanroc anyone? lol

[@seaborgium919]

Was looking for the pokemon reference. A+

[@super-weirdo5219]

That is literally the reason I looked up this video

[@tommeng6522]

Lol. Hank "Green". He is a flash of sunlight in Scishow.

[@bringmemike]

Close enough

[@ya-ma-dayamadash1524]

2:32 "Silly human!, now you must face my stand, green flashu!"

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

Why don’t you make a video on the alternative theories about the Universe on KZbin this would be interesting and good for the KZbin community!!!

[@stephenk.1997]

Yet another thing that can’t happen on a flat earth.

[@SunflowerSpotlight]

Stephen k. It would be cool if someone made a video listing all the stuff that wouldn’t be possible if Earth was flat. Just a bombardment of fact after fact after fact.

[@DANGJOS]

A sunset wouldn't be possible at all. Not in the world we know.

[@funkyalfonso]

20 years ago I was at a small bay in Thailand. Just as the sun was about to set there was a amazingly fast neon green flash from one side of the bay to the other. My friend saw it and said' don't say anything just make a wish'. It was green and it went in a flash.

[@Master_Therion]

I keep all of my important documents on a Green Flash drive.

[@revenant_hunter]

Only 2 likes for Master Therion? Weird........

[@Master_Therion]

Yeah, I was late. And, I admit, this isn't a very good pun.

[@SmartinatorPlus]

1 more lke from me

[@Schradermusic]

Meh.

[@BlackHoleForge]

But they are time-locked. You can only access them twice a day for a few seconds...lol

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

I've seen it 5-6 times, out of maybe 7-8 times I looked for it. Ocean sunsets... It's completely real. Sometimes it's very pronounced, very distinct, and other times more subtle. But you won't notice unless you're looking for it.

[@tommeng6522]

2:36 Looks like an atomic Bomb

[@zizo0ditto1989]

Well, this certainly *sheds light* on the topic

[@zoofan9280]

Abdel aziz habiba you can go now

[@qwertyTRiG]

Abdel aziz habiba I think that my favourite eggcorn is "to shade light on a matter".

[@SunflowerSpotlight]

Bah dum tsss!

[@UnoriginallyChrisLPs]

I've never even heard of this phenomenon. Cool.

[@blackholeentry3489]

I've been an amateur astronomer most of my 80 year life, but never heard of the green flash until in my 40's.

[@electronicsNmore]

Of course it flashes green, if you've taken too much LSD. :-)

[@Dana-ki6vs]

no...it actually flashes..

[@3mar00ss6]

as green as Shrek how do you like the sun now

[@Dannysonicx]

Dusk Lycanroc evolution explained

[@jachariah4694]

You late sci show, Pokémon got to this first fam

[@jachariah4694]

Wood 'n' Stuff w/ Steve French I wouldn’t say necessarily that “fam” is ghetto, it’s just silly slang that sounds stupid. Frankly I’m surprised you chose to passive aggressively criticize my usage of “fam” instead of “you” as opposed to “you’re”.

[@Goro_Maj1ma]

Wood 'n' Stuff w/ Steve French Take of the Exactly, it doesn't work. *How ghetto are you trying to be* but adding the exactly at the beginning makes it grammatically incorrect. 😊

[@jachariah4694]

#Captain Obvious hey correct your “of” to “off” before he notices and goes for the low hanging fruit.

[@aliensinnoh1]

Pirates of the Caribbean got it first.

[@rodrigodiaz7167]

the real reason you cant see this in a sunrise is bc you have no idea where the sun exactly is, unlike with sunset

[@xenathcytrin202]

The *GREEN SUN* eh? *Homestuck intensifies*

[@old-moose]

One cool summer in Oregon on a cliff looking over the Pacific, I was taking a sunset picture of my wife and caught the green flash in the picture. We went back the next night and got a video of it. I had heard of them but had never seen them before or since.

[@geminifiend5775]

I seen alot of these when I was in the Navy . Kinda scary the 1st time I seen it

[@MARKE911]

Just before a summer storm. Sometimes the sky turns “green” the sky is not clear but covered in clouds. sometimes the storm will produce a tornado.

[@brown029]

Now time to see what the flat earthers have to say 😂😂

[@massimookissed1023]

King Tardis , it's flerspective. And buoyancy. And a host of other flattarded reasons.

[@xenathcytrin202]

Mag*HIC*

[@randysmith9715]

In the 1970's I was on a ship watching the sunset. I saw a green flash that was so intense that the entire sky turned green for about 4 seconds!! At the time, I didn't know what I had seen.

[@TheIcyhydra]

is that why full moonlight can make the sky look purple?

[@my_name_is_betty283]

Mamma said alligators are so ornery because they got all them teeth, but no tooth brush

[@HIMcules2112]

Betty nope, mammas wrong again.

[@TripleNippleXIV]

I believe Cl.sanders taught you it was the medula oblongata?

[@zorod5475]

Random question. How big would a cube of clear silicon glass have to be before you can't see through it due to refraction, molecules blocking the light, etc.? Also if you had a planet sized ball of it would the planet glow because of the immense heat and pressure or would it be dark because of the factors listed in the first question?

[@Lucky10279]

zorod That's a really interesting question. You should ask the "Because science" KZbin channel.

[@JackSparrow-tn6ic]

There is no point where you can say that now it is big enough. The light blocking happens gradually, so it would just get darker with every meter. There is some e^-1 formula that describes how brightness goes down with distance travelled through material. Depends on the strength of the light source, the distance and material constants, but never truly reaches zero (because of e^-1). But idk about your second question, very interesting. One thing that is for sure is that most of the glass planets material would be molten due to heat. Molten glass glows of course, but we would have to figure out how thick the solid crust would be and then use that e^-1 formula to see how much light reaches the surface.

[@equineexpert1501]

This is one of those videos that teaches you things you never knew you wanted to learn about.... but those are my favorite kind. Keep being awesome SciShow!

[@shrimpbisque]

The green sun... not to be confused with *T h e G r e e n S u n*.

[@captainbarbossa5201]

Green lantern is secretly living there.

[@toddwasson3355]

I saw the green flashes today some time after taking off in a private plane with a friend. We took off just after sunset. As we cleared the trees, just a tiny part of the top of the sun was visible. As we climbed further, the sun rose again (in the west, remember it was actually after sunset, not sunrise). Somewhere during this at probably 5,000 feet altitude all three of us could see the green flashes for quite some time. It's subtle, but noticeable. I filmed it with my phone, but it wasn't visible in the recording unfortunately. During this we saw the sun rise completely and then set again some time after we leveled off. Bad news for flat Earthers. :-P

[@ben2b244]

Happens in Hawaii nearly nightly

[@yarendus]

Lycanroc.....

[@IndiaRediscovered.]

2:34 It's look like a nuclear bomb explosion 💥

[@fep_ptcp883]

HOW COME THERE'S NO SHOUTOUT TO BRADY HARAN'S Deep Sky video on the subject: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/gojaaa1taqaLrbc

[@tianasixkiller4771]

It's true. During the summer, we go to St. Andrews Marina just to see it. The Green Flash is a major attraction not just for tourists... locals find it pretty amazing too. It happens quick so you can miss it real fast if you don't catch it as the sun slips beneath the horizon. Just a few seconds of a spectacular bright green flash.

[@jacobchurchwardtruered116]

Yay I'm not crazy

[@udtheaesir]

Hawaii's a great place to see the green flash nearly everytime.

[@laurenli6411]

That's exciting

[@brianb8060]

🎵 For all the lost chances And all the lost dances For strange circumstances And Island hoodoo Green flash at sunset Young love recaptured Just an illusion What if it were to be true 🎵 RIP Jimmy Buffett

[@aliensinnoh1]

There are a surprisingly large number of watchers of the Pokémon anime in this comments thread, all of them talking about Dusk Lycanroc’s evolution. All I have to say to y’all is... XY was better.

[@АндрейДынин-л8т]

I want to share with you couple theories or laws of the universe 1)The speed of light is not motion speed limit for matter it is energy exchange limit. Example = no matter what two points speed is, if the difference less than speed of light they can interact\exchange energies. If difference more then speed of light points will NOT interact\exchange energies.Pass through each other without any consequences. It is a key to multiverse. 2)Energy exchange take least resistance path every time\in time, in each universe. It is in everyday life, in motion of water/air, in how people live their lives, in each atom behaves. I want to get a Nobel for it, but i am no one. Best regards Dynin A.I.

[@jfikri1]

it signal a soul coming back from the dead

[@SmartinatorPlus]

cataleptic zombies

[@Yotanido]

Orholam's wink

[@alexlubbers1589]

I saw the green flash twice on a cruise. The first was a more yellowish green but the second was the most vivid, beautiful intense green imaginable followed by aqua blue. It was incredible and I had my camera aimed at it, got the shots.

[@karmasutra4774]

Oh wow do you have them anywhere on display ?

[@DStud29]

I'm not following... If "the red image of the Sun sets first", as blue wavelengths scatter more easily and predominate, why does the sky get continuously redder and not bluer as it sets?

[@togetvj]

I wonder if the narrator ever actually saw the green flash. I have seen it, just once when I lived in Barbados for 10 years. It was a green horizontal flash, a split second, which I don't see in this animation.

[@SteveFrenchWoodNStuff]

But this has already been settled for many years now. There's already videos out there showing the phenomenon.

[@mikkosha]

Maybe that was what my math prof meant when she suddenly stopped writing on the blackboard remaining silent for a while then absentmindedly uttering "green, green is the colour of hope" then resuming the lecture as if nothing had happened. Suddenly I feel even more appreciative of her lectures (she is a great prof anyways :)

[@carlosrecinos7785]

Wow. Pokémon made that green flash in that Alola episode really exaggerated (When Lycanroc evolves)

[@PoisonCuber]

this doesn't make sense. back in October of 2015, I was walking down the street at roughly 11pm. The location in which I was walking had absolutely no view of the horizon. Yet I saw a green flash. not a slight green tint to the sun as seen in this video, a flash that lit the entire northern portion of the sky. whatever it was that I saw meets none of the requirements listen in this video. it didn't even originate n the west, which is the direction the sun sets. so what the hell did I see?

[@robsaberrations4924]

I saw the Green Flash once, from the dining room of a cruise ship in the Pacific near Vanuatu. It's the only time in my life I've seen it.

[@Number237]

"Violet" in electromagnetic wavelength sense is blue as in "roses are red violets are blue" not purple as shown here. There is no purple light. Purple is a mixture of red and blue light.

[@11ccom]

I have seen the real green flash in the Florida Keys. It is "very" bright and I believe it is when all the things align: the sun shine through the water (like light through a prism) and the green flash shoots out to be visible to the human eye.

[@FilledCircle]

I got in a huge argument with my highschool science teacher about this. Who's laughing now Mrs. Carson!!

[@alfoncejean8826]

No you won't see the "truth green of hope" because le all of jules verne description it only every existed in his incompetent mind!

[@troyhooper6896]

It's because the sun shines more green then any other color ,,which is key for looking for life in the universe ..need to find a green sun an there will be a great chance for life ..exactly why it seems we are all alone in the universe, green sun's are rare .

[@GameOverAus]

What about sky flashes, i've seen the sky light up completely about an hr before dawn. So one second there is stars then a bright skky for a second or 2 then back to stars and an hr later the light starts to brighten as usual.

[@キタミチ-f1x]

UCF causes phantom hits. It's true.

[@Solitario9475]

What about a green flash when it’s 1 am and repeat over and over randomly every 1-3 days after midnight

[@toboez]

And here i am. Forests and mountains in every direction. People living in flat areas are lucky in this.

[@johnattincan4190]

I was in the ocean and I was trying to see the green flash, but when I was jumping over the waves to see the sun I noticed that the water was really light blue, does anyone know what this is

[@recordkeepingandinformatio8206]

2:46 *Item #:* SCP-001 *Object Class:* Apollyon

[@ChasingDifferentAdventures]

Never seen a green flash....though, never looked for it. Thanks, fid think it was a myth

[@Hartofafool]

I would have thought it was when the yellow sun passes through the blue water and the tip surface would create just enough translucency to pass through and create green

[@Moock91]

In 20 years of sunset staring i saw it only once. The only day the camera was uncharged :v

[@NoPressure-69]

i have senn green light in Latvia and it was like 20 minutes after sunset, also the splash was 2-3 secods long

[@AZOffRoadster]

Light from the sun is primarily green, so it makes sense. That's why plants are green, after all.

[@WebSoak]

The one where has the stand looks like a nuclear explosion

[@captainrobots1]

One time I saw a green dot in the sky at the same time for a week but it was not a from a plane or helicopter it was from space in the same spot it was weird.

[@krandaman1]

I clicked because you didn't clickbait in the title for once - i want to know more...

[@briandoolittle3422]

But green doesnt just show up during the green flash. Ive seen green mixed in to the sunset that lasts for minutes.

[@pauleohl]

Lots of talk with no animations to help explain the topic. Was there a green flash in this video? I did not see it.

[@utilitygaming3968]

When I saw this I thought it was a nuclear bomb

[@jacksmith2870]

“Ever gazed upon the green flash master Gibbs?”

[@dal.salvador]

Oh my god finally an explanation. I saw this happening twice in the morning and i freaked out for real.

[@m1co294]

Everyone gangsta till a cursed Dutch fluyt emerges from the water

[@RUNDNB85]

recorded a green flash today first time in 8+ years and now this video​ bit random.

[@Liquessen]

Huh... so that's why the afterimage when eyes are hit by bright light tends to have a strange greenish tint!

[@NrlGamingYT]

I looked at this video because this morning I saw it. I was so shocked and wanted to know what caused it