Can there be a moonbow?

[JamesF]

Mother Nature is clearly in a malicious mood this evening as there is a beautifully clear patch of sky right were the moon is and I can just pick out Antares to the east of it, but the rest of the sky is covered in cloud and when I went outside just now it was raining. Which made me wonder... Is it possible to get a rainbow-like effect from moonlight? Somehow I think that despite it being technically possible and that the moon is so bright that it's producing well-defined shadows, there's just not enough light there to make it work.

A rainbow at night would be such a cool thing to see though...

James

[Islander]

Yup, moonbows certainly exist although the low light usually means that you can't see the colours. There's another effect caused by high level ice crystals or cirrus cloud but that's a smaller arc or circle (around 22 degrees) than a true moonbow.

[JamesF]

Ah, yes, a few SGL members saw the circle around the moon when it happened a while back. In fact I think some people managed to get photographs of it.

Turns out that Wikipedia even has a page on moonbows. Has anyone seen one?

James

[sologuitarist61]

Yes I have seen a circle (and on a couple of times when the moon is high enough , a double circle) around the moon on quite a few occasions but have never tied it to the weather (other than the sky has to be clear to see the moon in the first instance ). I have always put the reasoning down to small ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, but there again I am rarely correct when I make such assumptions

[notaclue]

Moonbow from Wikipedia

[sologuitarist61]

Here is another one for you on moon halo's

http://en.wikipedia....cal_phenomenon)

[JamesF]

Yes, it didn't occur to me to search for "moonbow" before I posted. Never having heard of one before, I'd made the word up only to find out afterwards that it already existed

James

[Mark1970Vintage]

I've seen some amazing moonbow pictures of a huge waterfall in Yosemite. Bridalveil falls perhaps ? So yes they are possible. Rare but possible

[notaclue]

Yes, it didn't occur to me to search for "moonbow" before I posted. Never having heard of one before, I'd made the word up only to find out afterwards that it already existed

James

Just be glad you did not type in Monsoon chicken Hospital.

[glowjet]

Perhaps if you took a camera to some local water falls on a very clear night, with a full Moon, you may be lucky and just be able to photograph one, although I should imagine it will be rather faint

John.

[Peter Drew]

Be carefull not to confuse moonbow with Moon halo they are two completely different things. Moon halos are a high altitude phenomenon caused by refraction from ice crystals and are relatively common. Moonbows are low altitude caused by the same medium as rainbows, rain, and are rarer as you need to have a low full Moon, rain and a suitable cloud backdrop. I have been fortunate to see just one, it was silvery in colour due to the faintness, a camera would no doubt have brought out the usual colours.

[Photosbykev]

I've seen some amazing moonbow pictures of a huge waterfall in Yosemite. Bridalveil falls perhaps ? So yes they are possible. Rare but possible

there is a stunning night time timelapse of this event on the Timescapes forum

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Blame Apple for the typos and me for the content

[Gfamily]

There's a good image of a 'proper' moonbow (moonlight on falling rain) on the AtOptics site.

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/moonbow.htm

Lots of brilliant stuff there!

[JamesF]

I'm so pleased I asked the question now

James