Whale rainbows

[Panich52]

Today's Image | EarthSky

Here’s a collection of photos, and a video, of rainbows made by whales. ...

These are true rainbows, not iridescence like the iridescence you sometimes see in clouds. Les told me:

Iridescence can be anywhere but it is most common close to the sun. The colors are disordered and pastel.

Rainbows (at least the everyday ones!) are opposite the sun. Their colors are always in the order red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Les Cowley has another whale rainbow photo in his Optics Picture of the Day series. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz299.htm

Also, be sure to check out the video below, which rsean9000 posted on YouTube in 2011, after a whale-watching cruise in Nova Scotia.

More
http://earthsky.org/todays-image/whale-rainbows?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=b3613a1dd0-EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-b3613a1dd0-393525109

[astral]

1. This was amazing.

I want a poster of the rainbow moment ; )