Question

What is atmospheric refraction and what causes atmospheric refraction?

Answer 1

Atmospheric refraction:

The refraction of light induced by the earth's atmosphere is known as atmospheric refraction. Atmospheric refraction occurs because the different layers of the earth's atmosphere vary in terms of optical densities.

It is caused by the varied optical densities of the earth's atmosphere layers.

1. The optical densities of molecules in various gases and dust particles vary.
2. Because of the differing optical densities of air at different altitudes, light from a star is refracted by the atmosphere.
3. When an object produces light rays into the atmosphere, these light rays are refracted by the atmosphere as they pass through multiple air layers of varying densities.