Abstract
THREE or four days ago I observed a phenomenon which may possibly be interesting to some of your readers. I was standing on a hillside, about 200 ft. above the sea, and saw a rainbow of the ordinary description, very vivid and extending to the horizon at both ends of the arch; outside this was a secondary bow, also very distinct, and inside the primary bow was a series of coloured bands, to all appearance identical with the series in the primary bow from the green to the violet, so placed that the green of this third bow was next to the violet of the primary bow, and the violet of the third bow the innermost of all. There was no appearance of any superposition of colours, and the third bow was nearly as bright as the primary, and the interval between them was hardly appreciable. The whole series was concentric. I have not observed any notice, in works on the subject, of a phenomenon similar to this, or any hint that it might be expected according to the geometrical or physical theories of the rainbow, and therefore think the appearance may possibly be of rare occurrence.
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SWETTENHAM, R. Curious Rainbow. Nature 10, 398 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/010398c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/010398c0
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