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Moonbows?
- bigsteve
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17 years 11 months ago #38122
by bigsteve
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Moonbows? was created by bigsteve
Hi to all. I have absolutely no knowledge of the skies, but wanted to share / ask questions about a night time phenomenon I saw last night (Wednesday 3rd January) near Gorey town in County Wexford.
I was driving home along a narrow country road about 7.30pm (approx) and my eye caught what looked like a faint night rainbow - something I had never seen or heard of before. In retrospect I realise I should have stopped the car and taken a proper look, but it was raining and as I was very close to my home I thought the bow would be visible from my house - but it wasn't. My family didn't believe me, but after an online search I realise that moon rainbows do exist. My question to all you guys is this: Were my eyes deceiving me or could I indeed have seen a moon-bow?
Thanks!
Stephen.
I was driving home along a narrow country road about 7.30pm (approx) and my eye caught what looked like a faint night rainbow - something I had never seen or heard of before. In retrospect I realise I should have stopped the car and taken a proper look, but it was raining and as I was very close to my home I thought the bow would be visible from my house - but it wasn't. My family didn't believe me, but after an online search I realise that moon rainbows do exist. My question to all you guys is this: Were my eyes deceiving me or could I indeed have seen a moon-bow?
Thanks!
Stephen.
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www.stephenhill.info
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- voyager
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17 years 11 months ago #38123
by voyager
My Home Page - www.bartbusschots.ie
Replied by voyager on topic Re: Moonbows?
Could you have seen a moon bow, absolutely! Sure, they are quite rare but they most certainly do exist. To help confirm the sighting can I just ask something, did this moon-bow literally look alike a rainbow at night or was it a much smaller circle around the moon itself? The reason I ask is that halos around the moon are much more common than moon bows.
A great site to get details on these kinds of things is www.atoptics.co.uk/
In particular the following pages are relevant here:
www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/moonbow.htm
www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circmoon.htm
Welcome to the boards!
Bart.
A great site to get details on these kinds of things is www.atoptics.co.uk/
In particular the following pages are relevant here:
www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/moonbow.htm
www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circmoon.htm
Welcome to the boards!
Bart.
My Home Page - www.bartbusschots.ie
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- bigsteve
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17 years 11 months ago #38124
by bigsteve
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Replied by bigsteve on topic Re: Moonbows?
Thanks Bart.
I was driving in a more-or-less south-easterly direction with the moon to my left side and the bow to my right. It was a faint white-ish bow although I thought I caught some colour in it, but nothing at all like a day time rainbow.
I'll take a look at the link...
I was driving in a more-or-less south-easterly direction with the moon to my left side and the bow to my right. It was a faint white-ish bow although I thought I caught some colour in it, but nothing at all like a day time rainbow.
I'll take a look at the link...
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- voyager
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17 years 11 months ago #38125
by voyager
OK, if it was one each side of the car then definitely a moon bow and not a halo. At night your eyes are very bad at seeing color, particularly from faint objects so white-ish sounds bang on too. It's be 95% certain you saw a moon bow from what you've told us.
Bart.
My Home Page - www.bartbusschots.ie
Replied by voyager on topic Re: Moonbows?
Thanks Bart.
I was driving in a more-or-less south-easterly direction with the moon to my left side and the bow to my right. It was a faint white-ish bow although I thought I caught some colour in it, but nothing at all like a day time rainbow.
I'll take a look at the link...
OK, if it was one each side of the car then definitely a moon bow and not a halo. At night your eyes are very bad at seeing color, particularly from faint objects so white-ish sounds bang on too. It's be 95% certain you saw a moon bow from what you've told us.
Bart.
My Home Page - www.bartbusschots.ie
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- philiplardner
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17 years 11 months ago #38128
by philiplardner
Replied by philiplardner on topic Re: Moonbows?
Astronomical Picture of the Day offers the following shot and explanation:
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010704.html
There was an even better shot recently on one of the ATM mailing lists taken by an amateur which was beautiful... but I can't find it now!
Haven't seen one myself, yet,
Phil.
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010704.html
There was an even better shot recently on one of the ATM mailing lists taken by an amateur which was beautiful... but I can't find it now!
Haven't seen one myself, yet,
Phil.
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- dmcdona
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17 years 11 months ago #38130
by dmcdona
Replied by dmcdona on topic Re: Moonbows?
I was leafing through a mag in Eason's last weekend and there was a spectacular moonbow image.
The mag was either Sky and Telescope or Astronomy - 'Beautiful Universe' - the moonbow was in the annual astrophotography competition.
Dave
The mag was either Sky and Telescope or Astronomy - 'Beautiful Universe' - the moonbow was in the annual astrophotography competition.
Dave
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