¶ … mirages; what they are, how they are seen and how do they affect us. Before we into depth about mirages, its imperative to understand the concept of what mirages is. So, what exactly is a mirage? First of all, one thing is for sure, mirages are certainly not optical illusions, as many people believe. They are real phenomena of atmospheric optics, formed by strong ray bending in layers with steep thermal gradients. Yes! Mirages can be captured in real photographs because they are real physical phenomena. Optical illusions, as many people regard them to be are more so perceptual idiosyncrasy of human vision, whereby the observer sees what doesn't really exist in reality. What should be understood is that distorted images produced by mirages may produce optical illusions, but what is false is when an observer confuses the observation with the distinctly different classes of these unique phenomena.

A mirage consists of at least one inverted image of the object. Mirage is a word that takes its roots from the French word mirage, which comes from the phrase se mirer, "to be reflected; to see one's image in a mirror."

Sometimes, a mirage may comprise of multiple images, which can be erect and inverted. Mirages are categorized according to the number and relative positions of these images. The classical mirages are: Inferior mirage, Inverted image below erect one, Superior mirage Inverted image above erect one and image mirage

The most...

They are called alternatively pseudomirages mainly because refraction displaces images in a vertical plane, with the various images stacked directly on top of one another.
Mirages are differentiated from refraction phenomena such as looming, which is the visibility of distant objects usually hidden below the visible horizon; towering, which is the exaggerated vertical size of images; sinking, which is the disappearance of objects below the horizon; stooping, whereby images are squashed together vertically, where an object appears distorted, but not inverted.

What people misunderstand about mirages?

There is a lot of evidence in textbooks that suggests that a mirage is an image formed in the wrong place, on the principle that suggests that atmospheric refraction displaces nearly everything we see from its geometric position, which means that the rays of light in the lower atmosphere are usually curved, since the density of air usually decreases steadily with increasing height. This is why when we view objects with our eyes we feel that everything appears to be displaced slightly above its geometric or its actual position. This displacement is known as terrestrial refraction, whereby the object is inside the atmosphere, and astronomical refraction is when the object is beyond the atmosphere. Although, such observations…