Low Rainbow Between Mountains
April 18, 2022
Photographer: Meiying Lee
Summary Author: Meiying Lee
Shown in the photo above is the closest and widest rainbow I have ever encountered. It appears that you can reach the end of the rainbow by just walking. At 1:39 pm local time on December 13th, I passed through the saddle between two mountains going away from the cloud and rain area. The Sun suddenly appeared, and I immediately looked back and saw this very low rainbow was in front of me! At that time, the Sun angle was about 35 degrees, and the center of the rainbow- located at the antisolar point- was about 35 degrees below the horizon. This means the elevation angle of the 42 degree rainbow on the horizon was only about 7 degrees!
Photo details: iPhone 13 Pro, 2 mm focal length, f/1.8, 1/1876 second exposure, ISO-32