{"id":17572,"date":"2014-06-22T14:47:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=17572"},"modified":"2014-06-22T14:47:32","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:47:32","slug":"circular-rainbows-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/22\/circular-rainbows-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Circular rainbows! Oh my!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I was sitting at a window eating lunch when I looked up and saw … what? A horizontal rainbow???<\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbows-01_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbow-02_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbow-03_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbow-04_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There was a circle completely around the sun, which was directly overhead. Plus a parallel circle (brighter but incomplete) about halfway to the horizon.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As that inner circle faded, the lower one briefly brightened.<\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbow-06_LowerRainbowBrightensasUpperFades_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CircularRainbow-07_LowerRainbowBrightensasUpperFades_062214-SMALL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Half an hour later, there were still vague streaks of rainbow color in the southern sky.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen all kinds of celestial and atmospheric phenomena. I’ve seen sun dogs<\/a> and northern lights and mammatus clouds<\/a> hanging from the sky like alien green breasts. And of course I’ve seen double rainbows aplenty. But I never saw anything like this.<\/p>\n

Once both had faded, I looked up the effect. Wikipedia’s entry on rainbows<\/a> says that completely circular rainbows can be seen only from above. Well, so much for you, Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

There’s an amazing type of circular rainbow called the Brocken spectre<\/a>. Wow. But that’s not it, either.<\/p>\n

Ah, now we’re getting closer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And Wikipedia finally admits to a partial answer<\/a>, but not under “rainbows” at all. What hovered over us on this warm, hazy afternoon was (no surprise) a halo.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What I saw doesn’t quite fit any of the photos online. Not exactly an airy disc<\/a> or a corona. A lot like a 22-degree halo<\/a>. But mine was much more colorful. And double<\/i>!<\/p>\n

ADDED: I also realized that in the photo above with the sun at its center, you can see a trace of a parahelic circle<\/a> (those semi-horizontal “wings” that appear to be shooting out from the sun’s disc), something I never heard of or imagined before.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The mundane day disappeared and in its place was glory that made my spirit dance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-aesthetics","category-rural-and-small-town-living","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}