Starship Asterisk*

Today, April Fool's Day, I got an email asking me if I've "ever seen a fire rainbow". This is supposedly the "rarest of all naturally occurring atmospheric phenomena".

Is there such a thing? Google "fire rainbow" for urban legends info. Only Snopes mentions it, and says it's true, but I can't find any scientific reference to it.

--Randy Jones

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/stellar/scenes/aop_e/cha0422.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumhorizontal_arc

Thats the correct term for it, Circumhorizontal Arc. Theres some info for ya.

Thanx. That answers my question.

You might find this thread interesting:
Submit Pictures to APOD, Circumhorizontal Arc (Fire Rainbow)

What the heck is "Snopes"?

Thanx, FieryIce, for the link.
"Snopes" is short for http://snopes.com -- a pop-up-packed urban legends website.

thanks for the warning about snopes. I can't stand Pop-ups

Also look it up on the EPOD site (Earth Picture Of the Day)

http://epod.usra.edu/

I'll try and find the one that was sent to us a few years ago when they first started to appear around the earth. Yes, they are a NEW anomolie.

Here it is, , ,

, , , and then there is this one of a full circle and a second below it!?!?!



That is the first double fire rainbow I have seen of this type.

btw..whats the cause of the rainbow to become so circle like dat..?

ice or water

I have seen the rainbow too at my school recently,

But surely i think it is from water,

When the day rains n suddenly it becomes hot n shiny,there would be rainbow,but,how to explain a circle rainbow,like the one in the picture?

zeilouz wrote:I have seen the rainbow too at my school recently,

But surely i think it is from water,

When the day rains n suddenly it becomes hot n shiny,there would be rainbow,but,how to explain a circle rainbow,like the one in the picture?

When the sun shines through a sheet of floating ice particles in the high atmosphere, thE crystals act as tiny prisms and refract the light. Much as a rainbow is only visible at a certain arc and opposite the sun (52deg?), the circular form is also bent in an arc but the anomoly occurs around the sun (or moon) like sundogs. The degree of arc is determined by the angle of refraction and your point of view

O.O..

So,from the ice prisms,when the light shines through it,it will show all the seven colours of a rainbow n forms a circular rainbow from different angles of the ice prism?

thx for ur explanation..!

You could try to do some research for yourself, , ,

Try here for some more about such things.
http://epod.usra.edu/

Hmm,i think its one of the greenhouse effect,it causes the atmosphere of our earth changes suddenly..