APOD: Rare Supernumerary Rainbows Photographed over New Jersey
04.10.2026, 15:00·
COLLECTED AND VERIFIED AUTOMATICALLY
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website published a photograph of supernumerary rainbows captured over the state of New Jersey, USA. Supernumerary rainbows are faint colored bands that appear next to the main rainbow arc, usually inside it. Unlike an ordinary rainbow, which forms through refraction and reflection of light in raindrops, this phenomenon arises from diffraction — a wave effect that occurs when light passes through very small and uniformly-sized water droplets.
Such rainbows appear as a sequence of pale pink, green, and violet bands arranged alongside the main spectrum. The smaller and more uniform the droplets, the more distinct the effect becomes. The phenomenon is considered relatively rare, as it requires special atmospheric conditions — fine mist or rain with a uniform distribution of droplet sizes.
APOD regularly publishes such images, accompanied by brief scientific explanations from astronomers, to introduce a wide audience to interesting astronomical and atmospheric phenomena. The project is curated by NASA and has existed for several decades, presenting a new image of space or related natural phenomena daily along with commentary from a specialist.
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