Fire Rainbow

I got this from my cousin in Australia today and thought that you would enjoy seeing it too.



THIS IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA.

THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED THIS WEEK ON THE IDAHO/WASHINGTON BORDER.







THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR.

CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES.

GOD'S HANDIWORK. BEAUTIFUL SIGHT! PASS ALONG FOR OTHERS TO SEE!!

 

Wonderful.............

 

WOW......... Kedi never seen anything like that......have to use that over used word again awesome.
Looks almost unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

well it didn't happen today :P this has been on the net for so long now lol

 

When ever, its a great picture, strange even.

 

Beautiful Kedi, thanks for sharing it with us:thumb:. How I'd love to see something like that with my own eye. 02

 

Great Kedi love natural phenomena.:thumb:

 

Thanks everyone. It seems most of us had never seen anything like this so I googled and here is some more info on Nature's marvellous show -


Circumhorizontal arc
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Circumhorizontal arc photographed in Ravenna, Michigan on May 13th 2008
Circumhorizontal arc photographed in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on June 3, 2006
Circumhorizontal arc photographed in Hocking Hills, Ohio on June 30th 2007A circumhorizontal arc or circumhorizon arc (CHA), also known as a fire rainbow, is a halo or an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a horizontal rainbow, but in contrast caused by the refraction of light through the ice crystals in cirrus clouds.

It occurs only when the sun is high in the sky, at least 58° above the horizon, and can only occur in the presences of cirrus clouds. It can thus not be observed at locations north of 55°N, except occasionally from mountains.[1]

The phenomenon is quite rare because the ice crystals must be aligned horizontally to refract the high sun. The arc is formed as light rays enter the horizontally-oriented flat hexagonal crystals through a vertical side face and exit through the horizontal bottom face. It is the 90° inclination that produces the well-separated rainbow-like colours and, if the crystal alignment is just right, makes the entire cirrus cloud shine like a flaming rainbow.[2][1]

A circumhorizontal arc can be confused with an infralateral arc when the sun is high in the sky; the former is however always oriented horizontally where the latter is oriented as a section of a rainbow, e.g. as an arc stretching upwards from the horizon.[2]

One particularly fine example was photographed over northwestern Idaho on June 3, 2006, and was reported in both the New Scientist[3] and the Daily Mail (the latter under the caption "flaming rainbow"). As the event was eventually featured on National Geographic News[4], the news quickly spread over the internet.

 

it is a stunning photo KG, like you i've been doing a bit of googling about them since you posted. Its all very confusing, so many different arc's and phenomena. I also looked back at a few photo's i'd taken, I assumed of sundogs. I think I may be wrong in my assumption with this one though. Sundogs seem to be a rainbow affect around the sun, with the red colours innermost. On my photo, the red is outermost. So, I guess it is part of a circumzenithal arc.



another strange thing I noticed was on a flight earlier this year. It maybe something common, I don't fly much, but the shadow of the plane had a rainbow halo around it. the photo doesn't do it justice!

 

Hi Glen, after reading about your sundogs, I googled some more and Wikipedia had some wonderful examples. No doubt you have read this link but it was new to me and perhaps others would like to read it and see the marvellous photos of sundogs too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundog

Back to your photos and lucky you catching them. We fly a lot but have never had your luck. I find your second picture especially interesting, not only the shadow of the plane but that coloured halo around it! If you look closely, there seems to be a bit more of a rainbow, almost like an eyebrow over the haloed shadow.

There must be someone who can explain that photo. Perhaps one of the links will show where you can send it to be examined. It would be interesting to know, wouldn't it?

All I caught last time was one sunset and two sunrises from the plane. I'll post them in the thread that is already running in a few days.

Thanks for sharing with us, Glen.

 

Very cool KG and Glen!

Not something i knew much about previously, so thanks!

One day early winter 07, I was out walking on the school field with a small groun=p of children, when we noticed that there was a huge rainbow in the grass. it was one of the most magical things I have ever seen. The sun must've been at a low enough angle to catch the frosty dew in the millions of spiderwebs. I don't take my camera to work - so have no pics to share, but th memorywill live with me for a long time!

 

done another bit of googling, seems the plane halo is called a glory. this site has some good info and examples
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020417.html

 

JarBax, what a wonderful experience for you and the children to see something that beautiful. I'm sure they will remember it a long time too.

Glen, that is your halo! Thanks for finding out about it and so quickly too.

Next time I am flying anywhere I shall definetely make a note to look out of the window in the hope of seeing one of Nature's shows.

 

Glen the halo around the planes shadow is similar to the phenomena I was trying to show around my shadow on the sunrise&sunset thread in my case the halo was golden and the picture didn't do it justice,well done on your sundog picture,we have been getting coloured halo's around the full moon caused through pollen in the atmosphere but as usual the cloud is there when you want a picture.