Double Rainbow in Sydney

Lovely stuff Miliux. Hmmm, good times ahead.

Oh very pretty

Haven't seen a rainbow in ages.

Do you guys get double rainbows often?

Not as often as a single rainbow. It doesn't last long though and it's always fainter than the original one.

Good ones Millux. I cannot recall seeing two rainbows at once, so there must a few lucky people in town.

We all have won with the bucketload of rain we've had this month.

We get double rainbows fairly frequently when we get rainbows in Brissie. I didn't think it was especially special.

Just so weird that the reds on each rainbows face each other.

Very wide lens Mugley! Amazing colours.

Double rainbows aren't all that rare ... they centre around the point in the sky opposite the sun, so unless you're in a plane or a balloon, the best time to look for them is when the sun is low in the sky, and rain is in the opposite direction.

Another refractive effect to look for is the halo, which occurs around the sun or the moon (as a rather faint sort of rainbow). Maybe 30 degrees in diameter? It indicates the presence of high ice-crystals, cirrus cloud, which in temperate latitudes, is generally a precursor to a change in the weather. It's often there, but no-one in the busy streets below bothers to look for it.

There's an old English saying (at least according to my "Cloud Study" manual) "when the moon is in it's house, (the halo) it will rain". Akin to "red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning, red sky at night, shepherd's delight".

I've tried this out on the shepherds here, but they were too busy roasting their jumbucks.

@ MILIUX - I'm sure there's a perfectly good optical reason for that, and we really should know it!

@ Yardmaster - not so wide - 18 different angles went into that one.

mugley said:

@ Yardmaster - not so wide - 18 different angles went into that one.

Click to expand...

Very smooth. Given our city's reputation, there should be four seasons in the panorama!