NASA Highlights 'Fire Rainbow' Phenomenon Over West Virginia
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a circumhorizontal arc, popularly known as a 'fire rainbow,' captured near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia. The visual phenomenon relies on specific solar angles and horizontally aligned ice crystals in high cirrus clouds.
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a circumhorizontal arc, commonly known as a "fire rainbow," captured over West Virginia, United States. Photographed near North Fork Mountain by photographer Christa Harbig, the phenomenon displays vibrant, flame-like colors running parallel to the horizon across a thin cirrus cloud layer.
A circumhorizontal arc is an atmospheric optical phenomenon created when sunlight refracts through floating ice crystals within high-altitude clouds, such as cirrus fibratus. The numerous flat, hexagonal ice crystals composing the cloud act as small prisms, collectively bending light in a similar direction to form a bright spectral pattern across the sky.
Specific geometry is required for this visual effect to take place. The Sun must be positioned at least 58 degrees high in the sky, and the ice crystals within the cirrus cloud layer must be aligned horizontally. Because these distinct conditions must coincide, circumhorizontal arcs are relatively uncommon to observe.
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- science.nasa.gov
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- science.nasa.gov: Original source
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