View Full Version : Gold at the end of a Rainbow
During a lifetime of flying I have only seen the Full Circle of a rainbow twice. It is apparently a very rare event and a fascinating sight to behold.
Are there others out there who can confirm the absence of the gold?
BigHitDH
30th Jun 2004, 10:32
Funny this, as I was always lead to think this was quite a common event. I've seen it twice as PAX, and it does look pretty funky!
keithl
30th Jun 2004, 11:35
Like BHDH, I didn't think it was rare at all. So common, in fact, that although I'm sure I've seen it many times, I can't recall the particular circumstances of any of them.
I'm sure the gold was there, but we were going too fast to stop!
Global Pilot
30th Jun 2004, 11:39
Milt,
I have witnessed this once coming over the Adelaide hills on the way into Parafield in my early days. VFR in a TB10. It was my first solo cross country. I was pretty happy with myself that I had just about sucessfully completed the navex with about 15miles to run. Icing on the cake was this spectacular sight of a full rainbow. Perhaps I will neer see it again but at the time it felt like someone was telling me that I was meant to fly and it will remain with me for the rest of my days.
This is the first and only time I have seen this so it remains rare in my book. FYI, no pot sighted and I wasn't going that fast.
Tinstaafl
30th Jun 2004, 16:38
They're common. All you need is to be between the sun and a cloud or shower such as dawn/dusk + a vertically developed cloud (eg cumuloform) or shower, or midday & a horizontally spread cloud (eg stratiform).
You can also see the a/c shadow in the centre.
Tinstaffl
Agree that those little full circle rainbows you see on a stratus cloud below are common and yes you do see the aircraft shadow in the centre..
It seems you have not yet seen the full monty viewed in the distance, close to the vertical and several miles in diameter.
Once seen - never forgotten.
Tinstaafl
1st Jul 2004, 14:37
Yes I have. And as I flew closer it shrank in size until it became a small one then disappeared as I flew into the cloud. :ok:
Like so many things in life!!!
:O
Tinstaafl
Sorry for you Tinstaffl that you have not yet seen the real thing.
The full circle rainbows Global Pilot and I have seen only form in rain showers. They retreat from you so that you never get close.
And they are huge. Not the ones that you often see on clouds.
Can you imagine Global Pilot going into raptures over your tiny ones.?. Hope you see the real thing sometime.
Just asked another pilot with a lifetime of flying behind him and he confessed to never having seen the big circle. Must be more rare than I thought.
Perhaps there are some observations of the full or nearly full circle when viewed from a mountain top.
Tinstaafl
2nd Jul 2004, 14:50
Shower/cloud - I didn't distiinguish for typing brevity. Any rainbow I've flown towards most certainly doesn't recede IF you fly into the screen against which it is formed.
RadarContact
5th Jul 2004, 07:03
There seems to be a confusion of three different effects:
1. Halo around the sun
While this can indeed be a closed circle, it is actually an inverted rainbow (yes, check the alignment of the colours :) ) Usually formed by ice clouds between observer and sun.
picture (http://www.meteoros.de/ee01ee02/ee01_1.jpg)
2. (Polarized) reflection of the light distortion around the aircraft (Glories)
While this might seem like a rainbow from close up, it is not. Usually combined with the aircraft shadow in the center it becomes smaller as you approach the reflecting layer. Can also be observed in mountainous environment (= without aircraft).
picture (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/368817/M/)
3. Rainbow
Caused by raindrops refracting light. Usually cut off by the horizon it can rarely be seen in a full circle from altitude during early or late hours. It can on occasions even be seen on ground, when its bottom half is completed by wet grass :)
picture (http://www.roddyscheer.com/images/napali_circular_rainbow2.jpg)
Hay Ewe
5th Jul 2004, 07:16
I havent seen one from the air but I have seen one on the ground, laid out horizontally.
It was at Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side a few years ago, 1995, and there was so much mist / vapour in the air that it appread to be resting on top of the grass.
I took a few photographs and one came out REALLY well.
Keep looking though!!
Hay Ewe
Radarcontact
Great to see almost the full circle of rainbow in your second photo.
If you took the shot do you recall the met conditions and time of day.
My first sighting was from a Bristol Frightener/Freighter early morning about FL 50 heading west through rain showers between Edinburgh and Maralinga S Oz
My second was late afternoon at about FL40 descending in vicinity of showers into Canberra Oz. This one was very vivid and could only be viewed with considerable awe!!!
Wish I had had a camera because it seems that they are VERY rarely seen.
RadarContact
5th Jul 2004, 08:59
Sorry, Milt. All images are from the Web, I'm afraid. Although I saw a circular from a mountain once and quite a few "along the lawn" :) I never took any pictures by reason of me standing with my mouth open...