Surprising Science — May 29, 2014

A Fire Rainbow Over Ohio

Have you spotted a fire rainbow before? They make the clouds appear to shine in different colors due to the ice crystals of distant cirrus clouds catching the sun’s light. NASA released this picture and explains:

Sometimes known as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc lies parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present. Furthermore, the numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontal arcs are quite unusual to see. This circumhorizon display was photographed through a polarized lens above Dublin, Ohio in 2009.

Image credit: NASA

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with

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