A boat that appears to be hovering over the ocean had many people wondering if they were going crazy or if they had been out in the sun too long. In the case of this hovering sail boat, the reason is fairly simple – it’s a mirage. Specifically, it’s a Fata Morgana, which is much more complicated than the typical mirage.
Basically it just means that there were multiple densities of air layered on top of each other, which caused light to bend as it traveled through different air densities, causing the sail boat to appear as if it were hovering. Since we are used to light traveling in a straight line, we perceive the ship to be higher up than it actually is.
Whatever the reason is, it’s pretty trippy.
