Rays of the primary bow form a cone. Its tip is at your eye. Its axis is parallel to the sun's rays and directed downwards to the antisolar point. Myriad raindrops near the cone's surface send sunlight into your eye to produce the bow. The drops can be a few feet away or a mile or so. Their distance does not matter, the rainbow looks the same. The rainbow is a collection of rays with particular directions, it does not otherwise exist and it is not located at any particular point in space. Drops inside the cone brighten the sky inside the bow. Drops outside the cone send no light into your primary bow*. But they might be on the surface of someone else's rainbow cone. Each person has their own cone and sees their very own rainbow**. |
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