# Anybody else see a rainbow at midnight on a transatlantic plane? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472 "2007-02-09T07:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/1 "2007-02-09T07:23:41Z")
I dunno if this should go here, or MPSIMS, or IMHO, but since it is a scientific phenonmenon I guess it should go here… I’ve been to Europe twice now and both times (both flights were during the night) sometime in the middle of the night a beautiful rainbow appeared due north in the summer twilight (this was June BTW) on the other side of the world. What was eerie about it was that the brightness was rather muted and the colors were silhouetted against the almost-dark sky. I remember pointing it out to my sister (I always grabbed the window seat), who mumbled something and went back to sleep. Guess I could have dreamed it, but anyone else see anything like that in a plane? Consider the thread boundaries to encompass any strange atmospheric sights while airborne… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/2 "2007-02-09T10:00:49Z")
Sure it was a rainbow, and not [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy))? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/3 "2007-02-09T15:06:38Z")
Other possible candidates are a [glory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(optical_phenomenon)) or a [moonbow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbow). (Where was the moon when this was happening, anyways?) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/4 "2007-02-09T15:43:23Z")
Colors too bright for a moonbow. Could have been a glory, except the sun was below the (“northern”) horizon. I’m guessing light was refracted from the sun via high-altitude ice crystals over the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/5 "2007-02-09T15:59:33Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] north in the summer twilight. [/QUOTE] [Belt of Venus](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=8241389)? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/6 "2007-02-09T21:59:39Z")
**Squink** , you might want to go look up the link you wanted: you linked back to the OP. Here is a [Belt of Venus](http://www.weather-photography.com/album.php?cat=optics&subcat=venus_belt) link, but I do not know if it was the one you intended. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/7 "2007-02-09T22:38:39Z")
Close, Squink but the colors weren’t like a sunset, but were clearly differentiated. I’ll be sure to sit on the port side of the plane on my next trip to Europe (next year) and get some pics and get back to y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/8 "2007-02-09T23:41:11Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] **Squink** , you might want to go look up the link you wanted: you linked back to the OP. [/QUOTE] Wow that’s wierd! It takes me to a reply to topic page, with the OP quoted. I thought links like that expired after an hour or so. Anyhoo as my link was [supposed to show](http://images.google.com/images?q=%22belt%20of%20venus%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi), there’s quite a bit of variation in the appearance of the belt of Venus. You say “due north in the summer twighlight”. Was the sun below the horizon in that direction too? That’d allow the possibility of all sorts of different [ice halos](http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/common.htm). The circumzenithal arc in particular can be [pretty colorful.](http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=349888) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-see-a-rainbow-at-midnight-on-a-transatlantic-plane/391472/9 "2007-02-09T23:43:38Z")
Webb Pierce explains it in song: _After the war was over, I was coming home to you I saw a rainbow at midnight, out on the ocean blue The stars in heaven were shining, the moon gave its light from above I saw your face in this rainbow, it made me think of our love._