Jerry,

: Did you, by chance see that Green Flash over your eastern horizon at
6:55PM CDT???
;-)

: BTW, what is the "Green Flash on Venus"?

The "green flash" is an optical phenomenon that happens just as the SUN is
setting over a clear, smooth horizon...the viewer sometimes sees a flash of
green...that lasts just about a half of a second, if that (caused "by refractive separation of the sun's rays into its spectral components. This may occur at sunset when only the small rim of the sun is visible. When refractive conditions are suitable, red, orange, and yellow waves of sunlight are not refracted sufficiently to reach the eye, whereas green waves are. The visual result is a green flash in the surrounding sky.")

The horizon has to be fairly cloudless, no haze, and smooth...hence it's
easiest to see it when the horizon is the ocean.

The first time anyone on our boat saw the green flash on the sun, was in Tonga...I must have blinked, because I missed it. I thought it was a joke.

Since then, I've seen it about 6-8 times...from the beach in Waikiki, from
aboard the boat/dinghy, etc. I don't think that's unusual...for cruisers,
to have seen it fairly often (after all, we're in the cockpit, at sunset,
when at sea)...or for people living on tropical islands (where the air is
fairly clear).

We were anchored in an atoll, 300 miles S. of Tonga, and 700 N. of New
Zealand, just sitting in the cockpit, watching Venus set, through
binoculars...not really looking to see anything unusal...but it flashed as
it set! i don't imagine that more than a few hundred people in the world
(if that) have seen it.

J