A Fire Rainbow Over New Jersey
Credit & Copyright: Paul Gitto (Arcturus Observatory)
Posted on 06/10/2008 2:26:09 PM PDT by sig226
Explanation: What is that inverted rainbow in the sky? Sometimes known as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc is created by ice, not fire. For a circumhorizon arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present. Furthermore, the numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight like a single gigantic prism. Therefore, circumhorizon arcs are quite unusual to see. Pictured above, however, a rare fire rainbow was captured above trees in Whiting, New Jersey, USA in late May.
This is the picture my wife took on our front doorstep June 5th in Boise, ID. She left the landscape off because my neighborhood isn't pretty.
Cool, I have never seen one of those.
Excellent!
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