Somewhere over the rainbows
Sometimes the weather throws up a surprise. A couple of days ago I saw this from the back garden. I don’t remember seeing a double rainbow before but I’m sure I must have.
For a rainbow you need raindrops and the sun shining. The raindrops act like tiny little prisms. The prism’s shiny surface is able to bend each ray of light at a different angle and separate out the seven colours which make up the ‘white’ light provided by the sun. Sunlight isn’t really white, it merely looks white or colourless to us. The seven colours of the rainbow are of course red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
That’s the sum total of my scientific knowledge and I had to look it up to refresh my memory. Why a double rainbow? It’s something about light escaping and causing a mirror image reflection above the main rainbow. If you look closely you’ll see that the colours are reversed.
At least the rain provided something positive for a change!
5 comments
We haven’t had a double rainbow yet this year. They are quite spectacular when we do get them. You’re luck to have caught this one… great photo.
Beautiful photo and quite informative too. I never knew the colors were reversed on a double. I once saw a triple. The third one was only partial and very faint but it was wonderful to see. My friend said that was impossible but I saw it along with my two daughters.
That is such a beautiful photo!! I have seen the double before, and I’ve been thinking lately that I haven’t seen a rainbow here this year. I never knew the colors were reversed on the second one! When I was in grade school - we were taught to remember the colors of the rainbow by remembering this name…Roy G. Biv. (red, orange, etc.).
Thanks all for your comments - It was a lucky experience, made more impressive because the sky was so dark which made the rainbows very visible.
very nice image with the two rainbows !
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