Dazzling Rainbow Over the Scottish Highlands
January 18, 2011
Photographer: Hollósy Tibor; Hollósy website
Summary Author: Hollósy Tibor; Jim Foster
On occasion, we're lucky enough to observe aspects of nature that take our breath away, as was the case with this dazzling rainbow, captured over the Scottish Highlands near Fort William, Scotland. The most brilliantly colored rainbows result from big raindrops. The bigger drops allow light to reflect and refract without as much overlap as occurs with smaller drops. Thus, the colors are purer. Note a portion of the secondary rainbow at upper left and the faint supernumerary bows just inside the primary bow. Photo taken on August 29, 2010. For more on supernumerary bows, see tomorrow's Earth Science picture of the Day.
Photo details: Pentax K100 D Super camera; Exposure of 1/350 second; F9.5; ISO 200.