Often surrounding the shadow is a coloured ring that is referred to as a 'glory', and this combination can only be seen from the perspective of the witness. Brocken Spectre Credit: Joanne ClewsĪnother bizarre and rarely-seen fog optical phenomenon is called the 'Brocken Spectre', which is a magnified shadow of the photographer cast onto distant fog, an optical phenomenon so named because of frequent sightings on the Brocken, the highest peak of Germany's Harz Mountains. Most often seen over snow as well as in mountains and cold sea mists, they can be hard to see, so look closely. Fog bows happen when droplets reflect light (the same as rainbows) but present little colour due to the tiny size of the droplets. The cousin of the rainbow is the fog bow. local time, though your latitude and the time of year make a difference. Generally, because of the sun angle and ground objects blocking your view, it is rare to see a rainbow between 10 a.m. They get shorter as you get closer to solar noon, and, in fact, you can’t see a rainbow exactly at noon (on the equator) because it is below the horizon. The tallest rainbows can be observed just after sunrise or just before sunset because the angle of the sun is lowest then. The photo shown above is an example of a double rainbow with several additional 'reflection bows' caused by the water.Įvery rainbow is a 360-degree arc, but you can only see the portion of them above the horizon unless you’re in a plane or on a mountain top. Can there be triple or quadruple rainbows? Kind of. We’ve all seen rainbows and double rainbows, which are both formed as light reflects off large raindrops. These can be roughly broken down into two main categories: rainbows and ice halos. Many of the most amazing pictures submitted to Weather Photographer of the Year showcase optical phenomena.

Optical phenomena