Sprinkler Bow ~
Imaged by Thomas Abbott at the Paardefontein National Antenna Test Range in South Africa. The sun was 56° high putting the top of the 42° radius bow well below the horizon. All images ©Thomas Abbott, shown with permission |
Rainbow Cone |
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Sprinkler bows, like rainbows, are at infinity even though the droplets are nearby. Move your head and they move with the sun and stars. If the sprinkler drops are a similar size to raindrops then the bow are indistinguishable from a rainbow except perhaps for the flash and sparkle of very close drops. Sprinklers, though, can provide a rather wider ranger of droplet sizes than ordinary rain. They can have huge unstable drops down to those in a fine mist. Smaller drops give wider and more pastel coloured bows. Those from a sprinkler mist can resemble fogbows. |