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Strange rainbow!



Yesterday afternoon I was lying on a lake Erie beach looking straight up
into a cloudy sky. I saw an unusual (to me) rainbow arc of about 45
degrees of a circle directly overhead; the (near setting) sun was situated
about 40 degrees below the arc midpoint; I looked at my watch, it was
6:42 PM EDT. For the next half hour the rainbow varied in brightness,
sometimes disappearing and later re-appearing - always in the same
"place".
The usual ROYGBIV spectrum was displayed, with the lowest band (nearest
the sun) being red.

This phenomenon is not at all the usual rainbow which is viewed with one's
back to the sun; I could easily see both sun and rainbow simultaneously,
lying on my back and gazing upward. Can someone explain what I saw? A
camera was available - pictures should be forthcoming.

Bob

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor