What is a Fata Morgana? Cornwall sea mirage sparks questions

An image showing a rare mirage off the coast of Cornwall has led to speculation on social media about exactly what it is. Mike Hancock, from boat trip operator St Ives Boats, recently spotted it off the north coast and said the "surreal" experience looked like a "huge bear on the horizon". Online, people speculated that it might be a ship, a crane or other objects, but it was actually a Fata Morgana mirage of an aircraft carrier. A Fata Morgana is a highly complex, fast-changing form of a superior mirage that drastically distorts distant objects, stacked vertically into unrecognisable shapes or towering structures. The name comes from the Italian phrase for "Fairy Morgana", referencing King Arthur's shapeshifting half-sister, Morgan le Fay, due to the mythical way these illusions seem to build castles in the sky. Hancock said he spotted the aircraft carrier in the distance while sailing near Portreath on Cornwall's north coast. "It's something that's quite cool to see but not unusual, so we didn't pay it too much attention," he said. He then started to head west towards Pendeen and spotted what he thought was another large ship on the horizon. "It was way out of our navigation rang