Atmospheric refraction Atmospheric refraction is considered in measuring the position of both celestial and terrestrial objects. Astronomical or celestial refraction causes astronomical objects to appear higher above the horizon than they actually are. Terrestrial refraction usually causes terrestrial objects to appear higher than they actually are, although in the afternoon when the air near the ground is heated, the rays can curve upward making objects appear lower than they actually are. Refraction not only affects visible light rays, but all electromagnetic radiation, although in varying degrees. For example, in the visible spectrum, blue is more affected than red. This may cause astronomical
Negative refraction propagation direction of the light, thus the sign of "n" must be chosen to match the physical situation. The principal symptom of negative refraction is just that – light rays are refracted on the "same" side of the normal on entering the material, as indicated in the diagram, and by a suitably general form of Snell's law. Negative refraction Negative refraction is the name for an electromagnetic phenomenon where light rays are refracted at an interface in the reverse sense to that normally expected. Such an effect can be obtained using a metamaterial which has been designed to achieve a