Mu understanding is that the light was bent due to atmospheric temperture layers...sound familiar. I bet at one time, someone said it didnt sound right that sound was bending and cause anomalies in sound projection under water due to themal layers...but we know that is the case now, we look for those thermal layers to save our hides everyday in game.
Well we all know that when you look in a pond at a fish that the fish isnt really where you see it. We know light bends when it enters water due to changes in density between the air and the water. The surface of the water acts like a thermacline bending light just like the thermacline in water between two layers of water with dramtic differences in temperature and density bends sound.
Well both water and air our fluids (not to be confused with liquids). When you get layers of air with dramatic changes in temperature and density you get the same effect as a thermal layer. Keep in mind that thermal layers dont just make it hard to be heard, they can also make it easier to be heard a longer ranges than normal through a tunnel or tube effect. This same effect theoritically could exist in the atmosphere allowing one to see objects from farther way than normal. I believe its called an atmospheric lense. The cool thing is gravity can do it too, black holes have been known to bend light allowing telescopes to see objects much farther than they ought to. I think thats called a gravitational lense...though it doenst work exactly the same way, it works on different principles.
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