Double Rainbow Over Salisbury Cove, Maine

Provided by: Dong-Eog Kim, Dep’t of Neurology, Dongguk University International Hospital, Korea
Summary authors & editors: Dong-Eog Kim, Jim Foster 

This well defined double rainbow was observed over Salisbury Cove, Maine, late in the day on August 11, 2004. Since the primary and secondary bows are so arched, and because the strongest colors are red and orange, it's evident that these bows formed near sunset. Note that the color scheme for the inner bow (primary) and the outer bow (secondary) are the reverse of one another. The darkened strip of sky between the bows is referred to as Alexander's band --named after Alexander of Aphrodisias, who first described it over 2,000 years ago.