Rainbow
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A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow tak
Double rainbow and supernumerary rainbows on the inside of the primary arc. The shadow of the photographer's head at the bottom of the photograph marks the centre of the rainbow circle (the antisolar point).
Rainbow in Moshav Aviel, Israel
A colourful rainbow and ring-billed gull
Definition on angles
Glory (optical phenomenon)
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A glory is an optical phenomenon, resembling an iconic saint's halo around the shadow of the observer's head, caused by sunlight or moonlight interacting with the tiny water droplets that comprise mis
Rainbow
…From above the Earth such as in an aeroplane, it is sometimes possible to see a rainbow as a full circle. This phenomenon can be confused with the glory phenomenon, but a glory is usually much smaller, covering only 5–20°. The sky inside a primary rainbow is brighter than the sky outside of the bow…
Glory around the shadow of a plane. The position of the glory's centre shows that the observer was in front of the wings.
A solar glory and Brocken spectre
Illustration from Jorge Juan's and Antonio de Ulloa's, Voyage to South America (1748), depicting three separate scenes: (1) on the left, an erupting volcano; (2) on the upper right, optical glories surrounded by a fog bow; and (3) on the lower right, arcs of white light near a mountaintop
A solar glory and Brocken spectre from Crib Goch in 2008