The Natural Navigator» Fogbow http://www.naturalnavigator.com Natural navigation, finding our way using nature. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:35:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Moonbows and a Quantum Fogbow http://www.naturalnavigator.com/moonbows-and-a-quantum-fogbow/ http://www.naturalnavigator.com/moonbows-and-a-quantum-fogbow/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:20:00 +0000 admin http://djemerj.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/moonbows-and-a-quantum-fogbow/
Last night I stumbled across a name I have been looking for since a sailing trip a couple of months ago, when I took this photo. I now know that the unusual phenomenon in this picture is called a…

]]>
Last night I stumbled across a name I have been looking for since a sailing trip a couple of months ago, when I took this photo. I now know that the unusual phenomenon in this picture is called a ‘fogbow’. It is similar to a rainbow in many ways, but the fog droplets are so small that instead of light being refracted it is instead diffracted, which leads to a white arc instead of the more familiar colours. Coloured and white bows can occasionally be seen at night, if there are the right atmospheric conditions and a bright moon, but these are given the fair name of ‘moonbows’.

Apparently it also has something to do with quantum wavelengths, but that sounds like one for a rainier day than today and it’s pretty wet out there as it is.

]]> http://www.naturalnavigator.com/moonbows-and-a-quantum-fogbow/feed/ 0