Question

Why should you see a mirage as a flowing water?

Answer 1

• A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon, in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. 
• As light passes from colder air (higher place) to warmer air (lower place), the light ray bends away from the direction of the temperature gradient. 
• Once the rays reach the viewer’s eye, the visual cortex interprets it as if it traces back along a perfectly straight “line of sight”. However this line is at a tangent to the path the ray takes at the point it reaches the eye. 
• The result is that an “inferior image ” of the sky above appears on the ground. 
• The viewer may incorrectly interprets this sight as water that is reflecting the sky, which is to the brain, a more reasonable and common occurrence.

Comments

Because of misinterpretation by visual cortex, humans or animals see a Mirage. But how can a camera, which doesn't have a visual cortex, capture Mirage?