Rare rainbow contrails over London

Great series of photos shows rainbow contrails that stretch beyond the planes coming into land at London's Heathrow airport. Pictures were taken from the ground, when the plane flew over the house photographer in South London.

Delightful rainbow effect occurs when sunlight comes into contact with the frozen particles of water vapor that extend for the aircraft. The rays reflected at different angles, resulting in gorgeous multi-colored "fan". To see the phenomenon is possible only at a specific flying height of the aircraft and the correct viewpoint of the observer.

30-year-old photographer Adam gray noticed a strange optical illusion, while in his garden and managed to photograph.

"I just came home from work and was taking pictures for condensing trace the aircraft, which landed at Heathrow, says the photographer. — I noticed that when the planes were coming in at certain angles, contrails became bright and colorful. It would happen more often with big planes than small. I had no idea what I do, so I turned to Google for an explanation".

The phenomenon occurs when sunlight falls on the condensation trail of an airplane — cloud of water vapor and soot particles that emit engines.

White contrails often dissipate within a few minutes, but sometimes can hang in the sky for hours. The water particles form a broad "tail" of the millions of ice crystals. The crystals come in different size and shape. Different size droplets have different optical properties and the interaction with sunlight to produce a variety of colors. When the rays enter the crystal, they are refracted at different angles, giving the condensation trail of a bright spectrum of colors.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»