Can you see a Rainbow in the middle of the night when it is dark and the sky is lit by a full moon ?
I was driving north through the lake district just after midnight one day when I saw what appeared to be a rainbow but not as coloured as the ones you see during the day, this one was more shades of silvery grey light, in a huge arc across the sky.
This was the only time I have ever seen this phenomenon.
2006-07-06 09:27:23 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Yes it was quite likely a 'moonbow'. The moon's light is spectrally very similar to sunlight but many, many times weaker, so under ideal conditions it can produce a bow just as the sun produces a rainbow.
The bow will be very faint and the colours will be barely visible because in low light conditions our eyes tend only to see in monochrome.
If you were facing north at midnight on a full moon the moon would have been behind you and, had you noticed, the shadow of your head would have been at the exact centre of the circle of which the bow was a part. Ahead of you it would have been raining and behind you the sky would have been crystal clear. Only then would there have been enough light to see the faint bow.
2006-07-06 09:47:48 · answer #1 · answered by Owlwings 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I could not see a Rainbow in the middle of the night when it is dark and the sky is lit by a full moon
2006-07-07 05:01:03 · answer #2 · answered by Perawan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course it's possible to see a rainbow at night. Rainbows are the result of light passing through rain drops so the light from the moon can achieve this but it would be very faint. The light bounces round inside the drop which is why you see primary (two bounces) and secondary (three bounces) where the colours are reveresed) rainbows.
2006-07-06 16:44:43 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the answer is yes and a number of people have pointed to the fact that a rainbow is caused by the refraction (bending) of light as it passes through the water droplets.
You probably can't see them very well, or make out the colors very well because as it gets darker yor eyes begin to sense light with the rods instead of the cones. Cones are great for color and detail, but rods sense better in low light at the expense of detail and color.
2006-07-07 21:22:04 · answer #4 · answered by joefizx 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i would think that it would be possible. all you need for a rainbow is water vapor suspended in the air, like after a rainfall or while its misting and enough light for the water to act like a prism. it's totally possible. full moons can throw out a lot of light, when i'm out camping and the moon is full its really easy to see and i dont need a flashlight, so i assume that the amount of light is not a problem. this probably happens just as often as regular rainbows, just that they're harder to see and less people out to see them. i never thought of looking for one at night though, i'll be keeping my eyes open from now on. good work!
2006-07-06 16:31:26 · answer #5 · answered by Newtibourne 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My aunt teaches astronomy and we talked about that type of phenomenon, but I don't remember what it was called anymore (that was a long time ago). It came up when WE saw something similar while we were driving on the East Coast. Apparently, it's pretty rare due to humidity in the air and water droplet formation or whatever....
Sorry I couldn't offer more.
2006-07-06 16:34:31 · answer #6 · answered by A Designer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Barbra Micheals wrote a book called Black Rainbow and described such a phenomenon. In the book it was described as very rare and possibly foreshadowed strange events. Let us know if there is a rest of the story :)
2006-07-06 18:31:34 · answer #7 · answered by Laura B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its just a rainbow in the dark, no sign of the morning...oh, sorry , an old Dio tune
Yes, I have seen one, not a whole arc, but just a part. unreal.
2006-07-06 19:02:49 · answer #8 · answered by not at home 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WOW! that is so cool! I suppose it can happen too, because all you need is bright enough light to hit a less opticaly dense medium (like mist/rain) and just as it hits the critical angle a rainbow forms! cool!!!
2006-07-06 16:44:18 · answer #9 · answered by Alexis T 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what you saw was a 'moon ring' very common with full moons, especially in colder temperatures. it is an pocket of atmospeheric gas that has a 'bubble' in it. we only see it because of the bright moon light. they are gorgeous and only occur about 1 evry month (sometime evryother month!)
2006-07-06 20:15:58 · answer #10 · answered by That Girl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋