Red Rainbow
May 13, 2002
Provided by: Michael Ellestad
Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster; Michael Ellestad
The photo above shows a fragment of a red rainbow, which appeared after the passage of a strong thunderstorm in mid April. The steep arc of the rainbow indicates that the photo was taken near sunset. Since the Sun is so close to the horizon, the sky and the bow itself are reddened. The longer path-length of the Sun's rays at sunset (or sunrise) means that much of blue, green and yellow portions of the sunlight have been scattered away from the viewer. A faint bit of green remains in the rainbow above. If you look very closely, you may notice part of a double rainbow - to the left or outside of the primary bow.
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