For the first time, capture the 4th level rainbow image in the sky

Scientists have for the first time captured the image of a 'level 4' rainbow, with four rainbows created in the sky due to the bending of light passing through water and air.

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Normally, light refraction only produces a visible second-degree rainbow. Until now, no one has ever seen the third or fourth arc of the rainbow in the sky.

The formation of rainbows is often due to refraction, bending sunlight through rain drops. The colors of white light are scattered during this process because they have different movement speeds in the water. Scattering light will focus into an arc facing the sun and appear at the point where the naked eye can observe, it is the rainbow.

However, some light tends to escape quickly from the scattering process, bent in a different angle and creates a second rainbow. Even a smaller proportion of the light rays make up the rainbow 3rd and 4th. Because this ratio is very small, rainbow level 3 and 4 are often very faint and hard to see or photograph.

Image of rainbow level 4 is very difficult to observe with the naked eye
and nothing different from normal.

Recently, images of rainbow-level 4 were captured and published in scientific journal Applied Optics (USA). However, the image of the rainbow of level 3 and level 4 does not display really clearly, but must go through the process of image processing and zooming to be able to see the presence. This is because the 2 and 4-level rainbows have a longer distance than the usual double rainbow.

Raymond Lee, the author of the image posted and is a meteorologist at the US Naval Academy, has taken five example images to illustrate the presence of fourth-class rainbow. Mr. Lee studied save to get the conditions for a 4-level rainbow to be found and go to those that meet the conditions to 'hunt' rainbow photos.

Only after the special processing process is realized
get the presence of the 3rd and 4th rainbow

Accordingly, Mr. Lee said it is possible to find a rainbow of level 4 in places with lots of dark clouds after the storm, and there are rain drops of uniform size. Because the fourth-degree rainbow is often very fuzzy, many photos have gone through special processing to see the presence of the rainbow.

This is the first time the 4th level rainbow image was recorded. In May 2011, Michael Grossman, a member of the German Observation Phenomenon Association, also "hunted down" level 3 rainbow images and found them in the sky after a storm in the city. Kaempfelbach, southwestern Germany.

Then, in June, another 'rainbow hunter' , Michael Theusner, also captured a third-degree rainbow image in the city of Bremerhaven, northern Germany.

Unfortunately, because of the rare occurrence of conditions and long distances of the rainbow of level 3 and level 4 in the sky, they become almost invisible to the eye of the observer. However, this is also an image of the first rainbow of the 'rainbow hunters'.