Starship Asterisk*

A Full Circle Rainbow over Norway

Explanation: Have you ever seen an entire rainbow? From the ground, typically, only the top portion of a rainbow is visible because directions toward the ground have fewer raindrops. From the air, though, the entire 360-degree circle of a rainbow is more commonly visible. Pictured here, a full-circle rainbow was captured over the Lofoten Islands of Norway in September by a drone passing through a rain shower. An observer-dependent phenomenon primarily caused by the internal reflection of sunlight by raindrops, the rainbow has a full diameter of 84 degrees. The Sun is in the exact opposite direction from the rainbow's center. As a bonus, a second rainbow that was more faint and color-reversed was visible outside the first.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

It is the Olstinden peak near Reine i Lofoten.

That's a great image! I didn't know that it was possible to see the full circle rainbow from an airborne vessel, although I should have guessed.

My first thought when I saw the image was, Wow, that's an amazing image!

My second thought, when I was still only focusing on the image and hadn't taken in the heading at all, was "That's Norway!".

I don't know where else you can find such a mountainous landscape with so much water and so little vegetation of any kind. Note the gray skies, too.

Ann

Where else can you see that? Well I think I seen very similar pictures like that (minus the rainbow) in Patagonia. Near the Straits of Magellan. Sort of like at the opposite end of the Earth from Norway.

When I was a kid I used to make rainbows with a garden hose! You
could make full circle ones with the mist of a garden hose! Kitty cat!

De58te wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 12:40 pm Where else can you see that? Well I think I seen very similar pictures like that (minus the rainbow) in Patagonia. Near the Straits of Magellan. Sort of like at the opposite end of the Earth from Norway.

You can see them anywhere. But I've never seen so many rainbows (of the usual sort) as I have in Norway and in Patagonia. Because the Sun is always low, and it's always rainy. Perfect conditions.

Beautiful capture! I also enjoyed the "Lofoten" link that gives a drone-captured view of the area that makes me feel almost like I visited the place (but also makes me want to really visit). That large rock (I wonder what it is called) looks almost like a much smaller rock, covered in moss. But I guess most of the yellow-green growth seen there is grass and small bushes ... I'm not at all sure.

I got a bit curious about the physics behind rainbows today, and found this great webpage:
https://inlightofnature.com/how-rainbows-form/
It gives a brief description of how Rene DesCartes explained the 42° visual angle for rainbows, and it goes on to describe the reason that the second rainbow is at 51°. It is interesting to see this pre-calculus geometric reasoning about the maximum of a function. The work of DesCartes had a great influence on Isaac Newton.