Mirage

light · optical illusion · desert · physics

Light bends and bounces. When light travels through air at different temperatures, it bends and twists like it's traveling through invisible glass. This bending is called refraction, and it's what creates a mirage.

Happens in hot places. Mirages occur most often in deserts or on hot roads where the ground gets extremely hot. The air just above the hot ground is much hotter than the air above it, which makes the light bend in strange ways.

Looks like water. The most common mirage makes the sky look like it's reflected on the ground, so you see what appears to be a shimmering lake or pool of water. It's really just the sky bent by hot air.

Your eyes aren't lying. A mirage is a real optical phenomenon that you can actually see and even photograph. It's not a hallucination, it's physics happening right in front of you.

Named for looking. The word mirage comes from a Latin word meaning 'to look at' or 'to wonder at,' because people have been amazed by these mysterious sights for thousands of years.