Is There a Connection Between Rainbows and Holograms?

[sophiecentaur]

I believe these are sun dogs

I think what is shown is a halo. These are associated with sun dogs, which, afaiaa, are more describable as distinct images of the Sun. It's all the same sort of phenomenon and, because ice crystals have specific angles between faces, they tend to be seen at particular angles as the crystals mostly orientate in the same plane (floating down with the side face horizontal - like falling leaves), which localises the image. Perhaps the halo is due to very small crystals that do no orientate horizontally. The order of the colours seems to be that red is in the inner band - moving out to blue but there is a clear cyan band beyond. Cyan can be described as 'minus red' (i.e. green plus blue). That seems to imply that there is a much bigger range of dispersion than what spherical water drops produce.

Edit later - this is probably rubbish: I misinterpreted the video - but the video is still interesting. This Nasa link is interesting and can account for a lot of claimed UFO sightings. The sun dog seems to be zapping across the sky at amazing speed. Just what the enthusiast want to see!

 

[davenn]

I believe these are sun dogs

There are no sun dogs in that photo from Tom

 

[sophiecentaur]

There are no sun dogs in that photo from Tom

True. It's a 'candidate situation' for sun dogs but the ice crystals are not aligned anywhere so all you get is a halo, from reflections at all angles in all places. To get a distinct image, a large proportion of the crystals need to be aligned (as I have read - horizontal like falling leaves) and that will produce a sharp reflection image.

Where I live in the UK I never see sun dogs, despite looking at the sky a fair bit. That's a shame but, with the prevailing winds from the West (Atlantic) , we do get some interesting clouds and cracking sunsets. Flat country and massive skys have their own charm.

 

[Tom.G]

http://www.google.com/search?&q=physics+of+rainbows