Monica Schaffner was walking down the street when she observed a massive ship out in the distance. Other ships were going on a regular basis at the time.

The lady told the New Zealand Herald, “It was like watching something weird.” “I was convinced that my eyes were deceiving me. I wanted to make sure my husband shared my viewpoint.”

On the beach near Mount Maunganui, a New Zealand resident spotted an optical illusion known as Fata Morgana, also known as a mirage.

Fata Morgana mirages distort the object or things on which they are focused to the point of being unrecognizable. A Fata Morgana may be found on land, in sea, in the polar regions, and in deserts.

Light beams are twisted as they move through air layers of varying temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has developed, causing the optical phenomenon.

When a distinct layer of warmer air rises on top of a layer of slightly colder air, a thermal inversion occurs. In this temperature inversion, warmer air at the surface is absorbed by colder air further above, which is the polar opposite of what usually happens.

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