So I was sitting at a window eating lunch when I looked up and saw … what? A horizontal rainbow???
Yes. A rainbow streaking in a level line across the southern sky. But when I got my camera and went to take a picture of it, I discovered I hadn’t seen anything yet.
There was a circle completely around the sun, which was directly overhead. Plus a parallel circle (brighter but incomplete) about halfway to the horizon.
These two bedazzling rainbows lasted long enough to take all kinds of pictures (though I’m amazed that any of them turned out, since I was pointing the camera directly into the sun while squinting so tightly I couldn’t see what I was aiming at). I had time to call a friend to get her to go out and look and would have had time to tell the little neighbor boys, had they been home (I hope they got to see it, wherever they are). All in all, the phenomenon lasted at least 45 minutes before the sun circle began to fade.
As that inner circle faded, the lower one briefly brightened.
Half an hour later, there were still vague streaks of rainbow color in the southern sky.
I’ve seen all kinds of celestial and atmospheric phenomena. I’ve seen sun dogs and northern lights and mammatus clouds hanging from the sky like alien green breasts. And of course I’ve seen double rainbows aplenty. But I never saw anything like this.
Once both had faded, I looked up the effect. Wikipedia’s entry on rainbows says that completely circular rainbows can be seen only from above. Well, so much for you, Wikipedia.
There’s an amazing type of circular rainbow called the Brocken spectre. Wow. But that’s not it, either.
And Wikipedia finally admits to a partial answer, but not under “rainbows” at all. What hovered over us on this warm, hazy afternoon was (no surprise) a halo.
Why two? I haven’t found the answer to that, yet, though I’m sure some scientifically inclined member of the Commentariat will pop right out with it. I’m sure it has to do with angles of refraction or somesuch.
What I saw doesn’t quite fit any of the photos online. Not exactly an airy disc or a corona. A lot like a 22-degree halo. But mine was much more colorful. And double!
ADDED: I also realized that in the photo above with the sun at its center, you can see a trace of a parahelic circle (those semi-horizontal “wings” that appear to be shooting out from the sun’s disc), something I never heard of or imagined before.
Whatever caused it, whatever you call it … it was magic. Pure natural magic. I sometimes feel cynical and world-weary, as if I’ve seen everything there is to see (and have often found someone else’s idea of a “miracle” to be disappointingly dull and paltry). But today I witnessed something I never saw or heard of before. And it was pure, pure, pure astounding wonder and beauty.
The mundane day disappeared and in its place was glory that made my spirit dance.
“The mundane day disappeared and in its place was glory that made my spirit dance.”
Amen!
Thanks, Ellendra. I’m still on a cloud. 🙂
One of my friends was driving south of here and she saw something, too, which she described as “weird, inverted rainbows in the sky.” Maybe we all saw it a little differently.
And it was huge. Just huge …
I think I could only see part of it through the wind shield of the car. I even took off my sun glasses, wondering if it was getting some strange effect from the polarized sunglasses and tinted glass of the wind shield….wild. We didn’t pull over to get a better look. Wish we would have your pictures are amazing.
Leave it to nature to be so entertaining and smile inducing 🙂
I’ve never seen a horizontal rainbow before, so thanks for the pic!!!!
I’m guessing the inner circle is a Circumscribed halo, mostly because of the colors. The 22 degree halo doesn’t show much color, but the one you photographed did.
Also because of color I suspect the outer circle is an Infralateral Arc.
I don’t think the outer circle is a 46-degree halo, because yours has blue and green.
The distinction re:rainbows is they are formed by water droplets (round) while halos are formed by ice crystals (hexagonal plates and columns).
No matter what they are properly called, a fantastic display! Thanks for sharing.
Just when we think there’s nothing new or awe inspiring out there…..What a lovely surprise! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, s! I had a feeling you might weigh in on this. Fascinating and enlightening. As to the outer halo, your links led me to this, which fits the bill exactly:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/cha2.htm
A circumhorizon arc. Everything about the description fits exactly.
“Look for the brightly coloured circumhorizon arc (also a circumhorizontal arc but never ‘fire rainbow’) when the sun is very high in the sky – higher than 58°. Near to noon in mid summer is a good time in middle latitudes. The halo is beneath the sun and twice as far from it (two hand spans) as the 22º halo.
“It is a very large halo and always parallel to the horizon. Often only fragments are visible where there happen to be cirrus clouds – the individual patches of cirrus are then lit with colour that can be mistaken for iridescence.”
And thanks all for sharing the beauty. I’m still feeling stunned at witnessing something so new (to me), amazing, and just plain enormous. Furrydoc, I’m sorry you didn’t get to see the full phenomenon. It was beyond words.
Amazing! I saw a strange rainbow here too. All of the rainbows I’ve seen here so far have been in the east, usually afternoon. This time the rainbow was in the West, bracketed between two towering banks of black cloud, but in a small clear space. It was almost verticle – just stood like a pilar of light, much thicker and more colorful than any rainbow I’ve ever seen before. Must have been several miles wide, at the least. I ran for my camera and got some good shots of it. Will send you some, Claire.
Yes indeed, wonder, magesty and delight can be found all around us every day. And then sometimes we get an extra special dose.
We had one yesterday. The coolest thing was my youngest making her first jump right in the middle of the rainbow. It’s amazing the things we can see if we just look up.
I also photographed the phenomenon on Sunday. I live in Ilwaco. I have an addition to the double halo. It is a white cloud ring that is not concentric to the halos, an arc of it intersects the Sun. It appears as a two ring “Olympic ring”. There is also cloud vapor that extends to the WNW that contains spectral color terminating at a diffused spectral point. The white ring dissipated after 15 min. from when first observed while the halos remained for over an hour. I would greatly appreciate an explanation.