Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: paul.fr on 17/06/2007 17:11:44
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We had a few rainbows yesterday, and i wondered..Why do i only see one rainbow, that being in front of me, why do i never see another one behind me. is it possible to have two rainbows at seperate places in the sky (not double rainbows)?
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The Sunlight and the falling rain have to be in line, that can only happen in one direction.
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If there is rain falling sunward, you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the 3rd and 4rth order bows.
Lots of good rainbow info can be found here:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/ord34.htm
The one and two internal reflections of the primary and secondary bows send light back towards the sun
and hence their bows appear opposite the sun and centered on the antisolar point.
Three and four reflections send light forwards to give bows that circle the sun. 5th and 6th order bow rays are
backward scattered and they occur opposite the sun like their primary and secondary counterparts.
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/orders.htm
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We had a few rainbows yesterday, and i wondered..Why do i only see one rainbow, that being in front of me, why do i never see another one behind me.
Well, this is only a wild guess, but could it possibly be because your eyes are in the front of your head & not the back?
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We had a few rainbows yesterday, and i wondered..Why do i only see one rainbow, that being in front of me, why do i never see another one behind me.
Well, this is only a wild guess, but could it possibly be because your eyes are in the front of your head & not the back?
Now i feel stupid.
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