Types of Rainbow and Sky Optics
Types Of Rainbow And Sky Optics is a structured science dataset with 16 entries. Its fields include Type, Cause, Location in Sky. The source values are preserved as a structured reference table.
Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.
Dataset details
- Table scope
- All 16 rows
- Fields
- 6 columns
- Source
- Community curated
- Data updated
- Apr 9, 2026
Included fields: Type, Cause, Location in Sky, Apparent Angle (deg), Colors, and 1 more.
The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.
Preview observations
- Apparent Angle (deg) range
- 0 to 58
- Across 16 preview rows
- Rarity groups
- 12 distinct values
- Across 16 preview rows
Useful for
- Comparing Type, Cause, and Location in Sky across science entries
- Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 16 downloadable records
Type↕ | Cause↕ | Location in Sky↕ | Apparent Angle (deg)↕ | Colors↕ | Rarity↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary Rainbow | Single internal reflection in raindrops | Opposite the sun | 42 | Red outside, violet inside | Common after rain showers |
Secondary Rainbow | Two internal reflections in raindrops | Outside primary, reversed colors | 51 | Violet outside, red inside; dimmer | Fairly common |
Supernumerary Rainbow | Interference of light in small uniform drops | Inside primary rainbow | 40 | Pastel pink and green bands | Uncommon |
Fogbow (White Rainbow) | Diffraction in tiny fog droplets | Opposite sun in fog | 40 | White with faint reddish outer edge | Uncommon |
Moonbow (Lunar Rainbow) | Refraction of moonlight in raindrops | Opposite the moon | 42 | Usually appears white to naked eye | Rare; needs bright moon |
22-degree Halo | Refraction through hexagonal ice crystals | Ring around sun or moon | 22 | White with faint red inner edge | Common in cirrus skies |
46-degree Halo | Refraction through hexagonal ice crystals | Larger ring around sun or moon | 46 | White with faint colors | Uncommon |
Sundog (Parhelion) | Refraction in flat hexagonal ice crystals | 22 degrees left and right of sun | 22 | Bright spots; red toward sun, blue away | Common in cold regions |
Glory | Backscattering by water droplets | Around shadow of head or plane | 1 | Concentric rainbow rings | Common from airplanes |
Brocken Spectre | Shadow on mist with glory rings | Opposite sun on clouds below | 2 | Gray shadow with rainbow halo | Seen on mountains |
Circumzenithal Arc | Refraction through horizontal ice plates | High in sky, centered on zenith | 58 | Vivid; red on bottom, violet on top | Uncommon but dazzling |
Circumhorizontal Arc (Fire Rainbow) | Refraction through horizontal ice plates | Low in sky, parallel to horizon | 58 | Flame-like bands of color | Rare; needs high sun |
Parhelic Circle | Reflection off vertical ice crystal faces | Horizontal band at sun's altitude | 0 | White | Uncommon |
Sun Pillar | Reflection off flat falling ice crystals | Vertical shaft above or below sun | 0 | White to reddish | Seen at sunrise/sunset |
Iridescent Cloud | Diffraction by small uniform droplets | Near the sun on thin clouds | 5 | Pastel rainbow patches | Fairly common |
Corona | Diffraction around sun or moon by droplets | Disk around sun or moon | 3 | Concentric colored rings | Common with thin clouds |
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