Abstract
ANY of your readers who happened to observe the heavens on Saturday night, the 17th inst., at about 11.15 to 11.30, could not fail to notice the beautiful lunar rainbow which was then visible. Though the moon had slightly passed its perigee, it was shining with such dazzling brilliance that the marbled shadows on its surface were almost effaced, and it hung in the heavens like a spotless crystal sun. The very stars seemed farther away, as though they had shrunk back, ashamed and frighted by the silver glory. Jupiter and Sirius alone stood fearless and undaunted—the former, below her to the left, as if in attendance, the latter far away in the starless south. A few featherlike clouds which the moon illumined with a splendour of her own, now and again sailed in stately silence across her path. but that portion which spread directly over her face, seemed to melt and become invisible like a snow flake on a warm hand, so that the cloud floated around her as a veil, fringing but not covering her face. It was when surrounded by one of these clouds that the rainbow became visible. I had never seen one before, so cannot say whether it was more distinct and bright than is usually the case, but I could see most vividly the red, yellow, green, and violet bands with their intermediate shades. The bow seemed formed on the cloud that shaded the moon at the time, and lay round her in a perfect, though comparatively small circle. It remained so for some nine or ten minutes, and then faded gradually away into a luminous ha'o of golden brown. Those of your readers who were fortunate enough to behold this beautiful phenomenon will, I am sure, agree with me that it was a sight not to be forgotten.
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KERNAHAN, J. A Lunar Rainbow. Nature 29, 105 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/029105a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/029105a0
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