Largest mirage
- Who
- Unknown
- When
- 01 January 0001
The largest mirage on record was that sighted in the Arctic at 83øN, 103øW by Donald B. MacMillan (USA) in 1913. This type of mirage, known as the Fata Morgana, appeared as the same `hills, valleys, and snow-capped peaks extending through at least 120 degrees of the horizon' that Robert Peary (USA) had misidentified as Crocker Land six years earlier. On 17 Jul 1939 a mirage of Snaefellsjökull (1,446m 4,744ft) on Iceland was seen from the sea at a distance of 540-560km 335-350miles.
The Fata Morgana is the Sicilian name for mirages seen in the Straits of Messina and is named after the Celtic fairy enchantress Morgan le Fay, the sister of King Arthur. This type of mirage is produced by reflections of light in low-level temperature inversions in the atmosphere - when a layer of cold air is trapped beneath warmer air.
The Fata Morgana is the Sicilian name for mirages seen in the Straits of Messina and is named after the Celtic fairy enchantress Morgan le Fay, the sister of King Arthur. This type of mirage is produced by reflections of light in low-level temperature inversions in the atmosphere - when a layer of cold air is trapped beneath warmer air.