Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Fata Morgana (mirage)

A Fata Morgana can be seen on land or at sea, in polar regions or in deserts. These specific kinds of mirages involve any distant object, such as islands, boats, and coastline / cliffs. A Fata Morgana is not only complex, but also rapidly changing; the complex mirage comprises several inverted (upside down) and erect (right side up) images that are stacked on top of one another. Fata Morgana mirages also show alternating compressed and stretched zones. (1)

  Fata Morgana (mirage) 14909324rFata Morgana (mirage) 14909324l Fata Morgana (mirage) Fata Morgana (mirage) 1155771633 Fatamorgana FataMorganaB10.1a Fata Morgana (mirage) dsc012152b Fata Morgana (mirage) DSC_0792 Fata_Morgana Fata Morgana (mirage) AA6 fatamorgana3 Fata Morgana (mirage) JHUS0069-2 Fata Morgana (mirage) JHUS0069-2b Fata Morgana (mirage) Scm Fata Morgana (mirage) april23-029 Fata Morgana (mirage) ml020510a Fata Morgana (mirage) Fata_Morgana_of_sun_glitter_IMG_0283a Superior_mirage_of_boats_or_islands
click images for source


I enjoyed this use of the phrase cited in the OED: ' Cloud mountains, and fatamorgana cities' (2) from 1829 by a  T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev.


Interesting to note during the filming of the Herzog's Fata Morgana (1971) Herzog and the crew encountered many problems, most notably being imprisoned because cameraman Schmidt-Reitwein's name was similar to the name of a German mercenary who was hiding from the authorities and had recently been sentenced to death in absentia. Also; Herzog contracted bilharzia, a blood parasite sometimes refered to as 'snail fever' (3).


(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)
(2) "fata Morgana, n.". OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 5 December 2011 .
(3) Fata Morgana (1971) Trivia: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067085/trivia

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