Not sure about the Guardian rainbow as I don't read the paper. However I saw
an excellent rainbow a few weeks ago. It was the most vivid and complete
rainbow my wife and I had ever seen. We were able to see all the colours
over the full 180 degrees and it appeared to be only around 1/2 mile away.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera handy. :-(

Victor

Alan White wrote:
On 25 Feb 2005 18:06:43 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

That's absolutely brilliant, Alan. It shows very clearly how
much more light is reflected inside the bow compared with outside
it.
A bit of ray-tracing shows why.

blush

Don't get too carried away. It was taken through a double glazed
window and your ray may be tracing the very faint image of my
reflection :-)

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long
in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

I can't see a face there. :-) What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there. A great picture.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

Alan White wrote:
On 25 Feb 2005 18:06:43 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

That's absolutely brilliant, Alan. It shows very clearly how
much more light is reflected inside the bow compared with outside
it.
A bit of ray-tracing shows why.

blush

Don't get too carried away. It was taken through a double glazed
window and your ray may be tracing the very faint image of my
reflection :-)

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long
in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

I can't see a face there. :-) What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there. A great picture.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

Alan White wrote:
On 25 Feb 2005 18:06:43 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

That's absolutely brilliant, Alan. It shows very clearly how
much more light is reflected inside the bow compared with outside
it.
A bit of ray-tracing shows why.

blush

Don't get too carried away. It was taken through a double glazed
window and your ray may be tracing the very faint image of my
reflection :-)

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long
in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

I can't see a face there. :-) What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there. A great picture.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

Alan White wrote:
On 25 Feb 2005 18:06:43 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

That's absolutely brilliant, Alan. It shows very clearly how
much more light is reflected inside the bow compared with outside
it.
A bit of ray-tracing shows why.

blush

Don't get too carried away. It was taken through a double glazed
window and your ray may be tracing the very faint image of my
reflection :-)

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long
in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

I can't see a face there. :-) What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there. A great picture.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

On 26 Feb 2005 17:09:07 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there.

I can remember rainbows being discussed in physics at school but I've
never tried that and have forgotten the refractive index and angles.

I must do a google.

Thanks again for your comments. That picture could be a 'once in a
lifetime' event.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

On 26 Feb 2005 17:09:07 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there.

I can remember rainbows being discussed in physics at school but I've
never tried that and have forgotten the refractive index and angles.

I must do a google.

Thanks again for your comments. That picture could be a 'once in a
lifetime' event.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

On 26 Feb 2005 17:09:07 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there.

I can remember rainbows being discussed in physics at school but I've
never tried that and have forgotten the refractive index and angles.

I must do a google.

Thanks again for your comments. That picture could be a 'once in a
lifetime' event.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

On 26 Feb 2005 17:09:07 -0800, "Tudor Hughes"
wrote:

What I meant by ray tracing was
following the path of a ray of sunlight through a raindrop while
varying the angle at which it enters. It's a bit laborious but shows
that more light is reflected at angles less than the radius of the
rainbow compared to greater than that radius. The greatest
concentration is at the radius itself which is why the rainbow is
there.

I can remember rainbows being discussed in physics at school but I've
never tried that and have forgotten the refractive index and angles.

I must do a google.

Thanks again for your comments. That picture could be a 'once in a
lifetime' event.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland.
Web cam, http://www.windycroft.gt-britain.co....her/kabcam.htm
Web site, http://www.alan.lesley.ukgateway.net

In message , Victor West
writes
We were able to see all the colours
over the full 180 degrees and it appeared to be only around 1/2 mile away.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera handy. :-(

Sorry Victor, I think I sent you this as an email by mistake

we saw a very intense rainbow in the afternoon, on the 5th February. My
rushed photo doesn't do it justice - not very sharp, and the colours
were even brighter if anything. Here it is anyway (59K)

http://home.clara.net/ra.evans/rainbow

Thanks to Alan for his superb picture
--
Anita Evans
North Cumbria
(anita[at]ra.evans.clara.co.uk to reply by e-mail)