Monday 7 December 2009

Rainbows and bridges


The weather on our return to Tattenhall Marina along the Shroppie back in October was a mix of sunshine and heavy showers. Perfect conditions for perfect rainbows.


My camera, sadly, is less than perfect, and couldn't do justice to the scene. Apart from the angle of view being not wide enough to capture the whole rainbow, you can see a splodge on the right where a lump of debris sits inside the lens assembly.


It's not just an optical illusion is it? The sky really is darker outside the rainbow. But why? After looking at a couple of websites I think this is the reason: the light we see inside the rainbow is a combination of the light directly from the sky and the light (from the sun) which has been refracted and internally reflected within the raindrops. The light we see outside the rainbow is just the light from the sky, with no extra reflected light. Please tell me if this is right or wrong!

5 comments:

Debbie said...

As always great photos! I love Rainbows. Keep up the good work!

Debbie Nb Tickety Boo.

Halfie said...

Thanks Debbie. Looking forward to more from you on your blog sometime.

Derek and Dot said...

Interesting thing about rainbows, we had the same affect in this photo taken recently
http://nzgypsyrover.blogspot.com/2009/11/rainbow-over-ashby-yesterday.html

Anonymous said...

dad what do you want for christmas?

Halfie said...

Derek and Dot, yes, I'll be seeing it in all rainbows from now on!

Anonymous (but I can guess who you are), thanks for asking! I'll e-mail you.