Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
One question that has always puzzled me: Why are the colors in a glory reversed from those of a rainbow?
Steve
**********************************************************
The glory is yet another incredible optical effect in our sky. We see the glory when flying (or hiking above clouds or mist) and it is created by cloud drops not reflecting like a rainbow but actually diffracting the light.
Diffraction is when light moves through an opening, this is also responsible for cloud coronas. The glory is seen around the anti-solar point. As with other diffraction of light patterns, the red is on the outside and the blue is on the inside. This may also have something to do with the different wave lenghts of light.
The glory looks as if a rainbow like circle is around the shadow of the airplane as that shadow is on the clouds. The rain drops that the light is reflected on are uniform in size.
It can also be called the "Spectre of the Brocken" or a "Pilot's Bow". Next time you fly, if you are on the side of the plane not facing the sun and you are above some clouds, look for it.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
