Physics

The Brocken Spectre Phenomenon

Optical effect or… ghosts?

Source: Pixabay (edited)

Many a wanderer saw it and feared it. It usually appears in autumn or winter, but only when it’s very foggy and gloomy. What is it, this Brocken spectre? Even the famous German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe feared it. Is it really a ghost, an apparition desperately trying to contact us from another world? Does it…