Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and ApplicationsLuckiesh, Matthew
Science
Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications
Luckiesh, Matthew
Optical illusions
The apparent form of the sky has attracted the attention of many
scientific investigators for centuries. There are many conflicting
opinions as to the causes of this appearance of form, but there is
general agreement that the sky appears usually as a flattened vault. The
sky is bright, due to scattering of light by actual particles of solid
matter and moisture and possibly by molecules of gas. Lack of optical
homogeneity due to varying refractive index is likely to be partially
responsible. Usually a prominent layer of haze about a mile in thickness
(although this varies considerably) lies next to the earth's surface. The
top of this haze is fairly well defined as aerial travelers know, but the
sky above is still far from black, indicating scattered light and
illuminated particles still higher. As one continues to ascend, thereby
leaving more and more of the luminous haze behind, the sky becomes darker
and darker. Often at altitudes of four or five miles the sky is very dark
and the sun is piercingly bright. Usually there is little or no bright
haze adjacent to the sun at these high altitudes as is commonly seen from
the earth's surface. At these high altitudes the author is not conscious
of a flattened vault as at the earth's surface but the illusion of a
hemispherical dome still persists.
There is some agreement that the dome of the sky appears less depressed at
the zenith by night than by day. This is in accord with the author's
observation at very high altitudes on occasions when the sky was much
darker than when viewed from the earth's surface. Dember and Uibe assumed
the apparent shape as a part of a sphere (justifying this assumption to
their satisfaction) and obtained estimates of the apparent depression at
the zenith. They estimated the middle point of the arc from the zenith to
the horizon and then measured the angular altitude of that point. They
found that the degree of clearness of the sky has considerable influence
upon the apparent height and they state that the sky appears higher in the
sub-tropics than in Germany. On very clear moonless nights they found that
the shape of the sky-dome differs little from that of a hemisphere. They
concluded that the phenomenon is apparently due to optical conditions of
the atmosphere which have not been determined.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account