Sunday, September 7, 2014

1.2 Asto APOD Blog

1.2 Astro blog
Sept. 6 2014

The Name of this picture is Moonbow beach. It shows a moonbow shining across the western horizon of a deserted beach scene in Molokai Island in Hawaii. The strange thing about this picture is there is no moon. A rainbow is produced by sunlight internally reflected in raindrops from the direction opposite of the sun back toward the observer. As the light passes from air to water and back to air again, longer wavelengths are refracted (bent) less than shorter ones resulting in the separation of colors. The Moonbow is produced as raindrops reflect moonlight from the direction opposite the Moon. That puts the Moon directly behind the photographer, still low and rising over the eastern horizon. This picture is truly breathtaking. I hope one day I will see a moonbow!

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