What is atmospheric refraction????
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Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through theatmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. ... Astronomical or celestial refractioncauses astronomical objects to appear higher in the sky than they are in reality.The atmosphere of Earth is not evenly distributed, it is optically and molecularly denser at the bottom and and becomes rarer as we up, so the velocity of light changes from layer to layer. The molecules of different gases and dust partcles have different optical densities , moreover the hot air is optically rarer than cold air. These factors form differnt layers of air with different optical densities and thus cause the atmospheric refration.