A unique space phenomenon: Swedish photographer captures the moment when Venus “lit up” with green light
Swedish photographer Peter Rosen witnessed a unique optical phenomenon when he observed the planet Venus emitting green light, which is a rather rare atmospheric phenomenon. Rosen, who had planned to take pictures of Venus and the moonrise over Stockholm, instead captured this rare green flash, which has been photographed only a few times in history.
A green flash occurs when light is reflected off the Earth’s atmosphere like a prism. This phenomenon appears only on cold, clear nights when cold, fresh air helps to scatter light. To capture such a flash, you need a camera with a high speed and a good zoom. Burst shooting of Venus can help capture this wonderful moment.
Rosen noted that he was able to capture the green flash due to the severe cold that persists in the southern part of Sweden. According to him, the flare appeared when Venus was near the Earth’s horizon. These circumstances make the Earth’s atmosphere act like a prism, dividing white light into color spectra. If the Earth’s atmosphere were clean and free of pollution, the flash would be blue, but due to pollutants in the air, green became the secondary color.
A similar phenomenon has been recorded before. For example, in 2017, photographer Colin Legg captured a green Venus, and in 2018, Paolo Palma in Rome used his smartphone attached to a telescope to take pictures.
Photo: Paolo Palma
Palma describes that Venus looked like an elongated bubble with red, orange, yellow, and green flames, and the last visible ray before the planet disappeared over the horizon was green. According to Palma, although such outbreaks have been recorded several times, Rosen’s latest shot may be the best one yet.
