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Originally posted by PurpleVortex
Cute rainbows...
Originally posted by Y3K89
What is this ?
Originally posted by Y3K89
Originally posted by RoScoLaz
Originally posted by Opportunia
It's also called a sun dog en.wikipedia.org... . Use the term in an image search you will see a million more![
Originally posted by earthart
reply to post by Y3K89
Heard of these being sited before earthquakes in places. Where are you located? The one i saw online happened like an hour or so before the quake hit? Good find!
It starts with sun on ice crystals. This is why cirrus clouds are generally the only clouds to display fire rainbows. The clouds have to be far enough up in the air for ice crystals to form, and the sun has to be shining through them in order for the light to reach people on the ground. Dark storm clouds blot out the sun and low fog doesn't contain enough ice crystals to properly refract the light. When they form, ice crystals often make little hexagonal plates. If the sun is at least fifty-eight degrees above the horizon (the optimum angle is 67 degrees), its light hits the top of these plates and is split into different colors. Since the plates only exist in the cloud, and nothing else around it, the entire cloud turns into a self-contained rainbow.