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Colour bands on dusty windows imaged by Kevin Boyle. Images ©Kevin Boyle, shown with permission.

Optical effects are everywhere. Here, dust particles on the windows of a garden shed produce a colour display. Light scattered by the dust and reflected by the glass reaches us along two routes. The two sets of light waves interact to produce coloured interference bands called Quételet fringes. More about Quételet scattering here.