Re: Strange rainbow!

[Bob Sciamanda <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>]

I should have emphasized that the center of the rainbow arc was at, or
very near, the Zenith - the rainbow arc was convex toward the sun.   The
arc was not a locus of fixed deviation sunlight.

Bob

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Sciamanda" <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 5:42 PM
Subject: 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