# rainbow in clouds seen from airplane **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538 "2016-11-03T16:49:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/1 "2016-11-03T16:49:44Z")
No it wasn’t a glory. > **[Glory (optical phenomenon)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(optical_phenomenon))** > > A glory is an optical phenomenon, resembling an iconic saint's halo around the shadow of the observer's head, caused by sunlight or (more rarely) moonlight interacting with the tiny water droplets that comprise mist or clouds. The glory consists of one or more concentric, successively dimmer rings, each of which is red on the outside and bluish towards the centre. Due to its appearance, the phenomenon is sometimes mistaken for a circular rainbow, but the latter has a much larger diameter and is... While flying on a sunny day with scattered clouds, I noticed that on rare occasions, the sun would reflect off of ponds or small lakes and if a cloud was in the right position and thin enough, I would see the light beam as a spot of light on the cloud, and around it was fringe of rainbow colors. Is there a name for this phenomena? if not, can I claim it and name it?😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/2 "2016-11-03T18:04:49Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > No it wasn’t a glory. > [Glory (optical phenomenon) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(optical_phenomenon)) > > While flying on a sunny day with scattered clouds, I noticed that on rare occasions, the sun would reflect off of ponds or small lakes and if a cloud was in the right position and thin enough, I would see the light beam as a spot of light on the cloud, and around it was fringe of rainbow colors. > > Is there a name for this phenomena? if not, can I claim it and name it?😃 It sure \*sounds[/.I] like a glory. Without a picture or a better description, it’s hard top tell. You can certainly get haloes around the sun or, presumably, the reflection of the sun. But these tend to be much larger in diameter, and with colors not well-separated 22 dfegree halo around the sun: [![](http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4edec8dc2f170c53d2fc317dacaa5f04.jpg) ](http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4edec8dc2f170c53d2fc317dacaa5f04.jpg) Glory: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Solar_glory_and_Spectre_of_the_Brocken_from_GGB_on_07-05-2011.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Solar_glory_and_Spectre_of_the_Brocken_from_GGB_on_07-05-2011.jpg) There are tertiarty and quarternary rainbows that are very close to the sun, and are virtually never seen. They are incredibly faint: > **[3rd and 4th Order Rainbows](https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/3rd-and-4th-order-rainbows/)** > > This article explores the fascinating world of 3rd and 4th order rainbows, rare and elusive phenomena formed by multiple internal reflections within raindrops. It discusses the challenges of observing and capturing these higher-order rainbows and... ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/3 "2016-11-03T18:32:00Z")
This was sunlight reflected off of the surface of ponds and lakes where the light hits the cloud above it. I was above the cloud but it was thin enough to see the circular beam of light illuminating the cloud. It wasn’t light or rainbows directly from the sun…it was the reflected beam off the ponds with the rainbow fringes around the circular spot of light on the cloud ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/4 "2016-11-03T18:49:01Z")
That is pretty unusual and I have not heard of that. Most meteorological phenomena are observed from the ground, not from planes. I have seen a circular rainbow in the clouds from a plane. I’m guessing it’s not that uncommon. However I’ve never seen the sun reflecting off of a lake and onto a cloud to form a rainbow. Maybe you could do a more detailed search for strange aeronautical sightings. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/5 "2016-11-03T19:59:00Z")
Odds are it was still a form of glory or closely related phenomenon. You were seeing a light source on the ground (lake reflection) projecting light upwards against a bunch of water droplets (cloud) which in turn scattered the light into a small circular area of rainbow colors (circular spectrum) some light from which ended up flowing to where your eyes were. These guys know everything. [Atmospheric Optics](http://www.atoptics.co.uk/index.htm) They have lots of pix and explanations. The also have a picture of the day which updates a couple times a week. Shame you didn’t ask this a week ago because they just had one that’s likely relevant. But the way their site works you can’t just step to previous days’ pix. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/6 "2016-11-03T20:17:49Z")
The OP’s description sounds a lot like a [corona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(optical_phenomenon)), also described in [the website](http://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/corona.htm) that **LSLGuy** linked to, except it’s caused by the image of the sun reflected off a body of water rather than directly by the sun. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/7 "2016-11-04T00:58:11Z")
alright I’m claiming discovery then. 🆒 I’m confident it is a type of corona as mentioned but very specialized. I’m calling it a Sigene Corona. I’ll be notifying the authorities and submitting it to the proper meteorological journals. Better names might be: 1. Reflected Corona 2. Limnological Corona ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/8 "2016-11-04T05:59:55Z")
The ones that are some times seen in clouds of ice crystals are very neat also. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/9 "2016-11-05T02:01:48Z")
I think that probably the best explanation for the 2007 Alderney UFO was a reflection of sunlight onto clouds from greenhouses underneath them; there wasn’t any rainbow/corona, but the phenomenon did display some banding. Well done for spotting the relationship between the lakes and the reflection, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4da419/32.png) [@I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_wasn_t_truly_absent)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbow-in-clouds-seen-from-airplane/770538/10 "2016-11-05T09:37:46Z")
hi, wasn’t the cloud acting as a prism , refracting the light (rainbow), so what you saw would be a rainbow but from a different viewpoint to the usual ? aren’t they just beautiful though ?