Rainbows

[Christopher K.]

There was a fantastic double rainbow in the sky yesterday evening. One could see it while on Government Street facing east. I'm not sure if it was visible from all of Baton Rouge.

To see a rainbow you need to have rain (in the form of a large amount of spherical raindrops) in front of you and the Sun behind you and less than 42 degrees above the horizon. The secondary rainbow is never as bright, and has its colors reversed.

A rain "bow" is of course a circular arc of color that is mostly blocked from view by the Earth. However, it is possible to see a whole "rainarc" from above the clouds in an airplane.

Rainbow observations of others can be posted as a continuation of this thread.

More information at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/educ/activit/rainbow.htm
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/science/rainbow.php

[Inventordad]

Interestingly, my son Nicholas and I were in the New Orleans area on July 26 and saw a double rainbow. No pictures though.