Hi John and others in the golden west, You make the case that the sun truly sets earlier than it appears to do. If, as you say, 34 minutes of arc represents 2.26 minutes of delayed sunset time due to refraction, we are getting into seconds. In that case we must do what the Nautical Almanac does not, and consider the height of the observer's eye.
The late Mr. E.W. Barlow, a meteorologist in the British Met. Office once told me that while serving aboard one of the ocean weather ships he saw the green flash (visible under very clear conditions at the moment of sunset) three times at a single setting. This he said he achieved by moving to successively higher decks as the sun went down. Pondering this, I have reckoned that if the decks were, say, ten feet apart he would have about four seconds to move from one deck to the next. I wonder if, being prepared, such a feat would be possible and whether anyone else has ever attempted it. Or was he just hauling my leg? Frank -- Frank Evans
