Rainbow corridor in the US sky

After Hurricane Florence left the coast of the US state of New Jersey four years ago, the sun appeared in the sky on one side, and something amazing appeared on the opposite side: a rainbow corridor.

Photographer John Entwistle, who captured this optical phenomenon, watched additional rainbows appear and disappear for about half an hour. In his picture, five rainbow stripes are clearly visible, dissolving as they are removed.

For the formation of multiple rainbows (Eng. Supernumerary rainbows) it is necessary that the raindrops are approximately the same size, usually up to a millimeter across. In this case, not only the reflection of sunlight from inside the droplets occurs, but also its interference: as waves disperse through water if a stone is thrown into it, so light waves behave in the atmosphere.

The description of such rainbows in the early 1800s was one of the first evidences of the wave nature of light.