Mirage in the desert. Notice how the distorted image of the sky looks like water on the desert floor.

Diagram of a superior mirage.

Superior mirage of Farallon Islands

A "mirage" effect seen through sugar water.

A mirage is an image that is distorted by the atmosphere so that its form and location can look very different from the actual object. It is caused by the way light bends as it passes through layers of air of different temperatures.

The words "mirage" and "mirror" come from the same root word, which means "to look at."