An unusual phenomenon describes as a ‘rainbow cloud’ was recently spotted above Tokyo and pictures of it went viral on social media.
June 26th, reports of ‘rainbow cloud’ above Tokyo was shared across social media. It was the rumors described, a multicolored cloud that oddly resembled a rainbow, only in reality this optical phenomenon was closer to an ice halo instead of a rainbow.
Known as ‘rainbow cloud’, because the looks like a multicolored flame floating in the sky. This sky attraction is actually an arc, a common phenomenon in the United States. Can be seen in the U.S several times each summer.
“Apart from the presence of ice containing clouds in the right position in the sky, the halo requires that the light source (Sun or Moon) be very high in the sky, at an elevation of 58° or greater,” Wikipedia explains. This means that the solar variety of the halo is hard to see at locations north of 55°N or south of 55°S.
Circumhorizontol arc forms when sunlight enters horizontally-oriented, flat and, hexagonal crystals in clouds. Act as a prism for the ice particles, the light is divided according to the wavelength, so the colors are visible.
Source: Oddity Central
