Optical illusions occur naturally in different habitats and conditions across the world. Cloud formations can sometimes make it seem like there's an ocean or a UFO in the sky. Whether it is salt flats ...

MISSOULA, Mont. — While up in the mountains, have you ever looked down on a cloud or fog bank below and seen concentric rings of light surrounding your shadow? A viewer recently shared a photo of this ...

The science behind natural optical phenomena—colors in the sky, rainbows, halos, coronas, iridescence, glories, glitter patterns and auroras—will be the topic of a free talk at Rochester Institute of ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The very cold air, like we experienced Friday morning, can produce some interesting optical illusions. When temperatures get close to 0°, any moisture in the atmosphere can turn into ...

Earth's passage through the plane of Saturn's rings, occurring roughly every 15 years, causes the rings to appear nearly edge-on. The next such event in March 2025 will be poorly observable due to ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A optical illusion appeared off the First Coast this week, making it seem as though a ship was hovering above and out of the water. The phenomenon, known as a superior mirage, ...

A new study explores the behavior of photons, the elementary particles of light, as they encounter boundaries where material properties change rapidly over time. This research uncovers remarkable ...

A video of a unique optical phenomenon known as a "glory" spotted from a plane has gone viral on TikTok. Heather Reedy, a 37-year-old registered nurse based in Virginia, spotted the mesmerizing sight ...

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discovered that the magnetic component of light plays a direct role in the Faraday effect, overturning a 180-year-old assumption that only its ...