Learned something new today. Two things, really. I had never seen this phenomenon before - a beautiful arch of mist over the lake, same shape as a rainbow, but pure white. I like this photo because you can see its reflection in the water, which was absolutely still this morning.
I posted a question on Facebook, and two people stated in comments that this was a "moonbow," created not by the reflection of sunlight on mist, but by moonlight. This was a fascinating idea, but since moonset was several hours earlier, I suspected there must be another answer. Googling "white rainbow" and following the clicks, I came upon "fogbow." Bingo. Instead of sunlight on rain, a fogbow is created by sunlight on fog. It's white because the droplets are so small.
I posted a question on Facebook, and two people stated in comments that this was a "moonbow," created not by the reflection of sunlight on mist, but by moonlight. This was a fascinating idea, but since moonset was several hours earlier, I suspected there must be another answer. Googling "white rainbow" and following the clicks, I came upon "fogbow." Bingo. Instead of sunlight on rain, a fogbow is created by sunlight on fog. It's white because the droplets are so small.
When I looked out the window, I saw the fog had completely erased the lake. Quite a contract to last night's photo of the dock. That's what got me outside to begin with, and why I happened to notice the fogbow.
Here's the full arch of the fogbow.
I like the picture below, too, because you can see the reflection of the fogbow, my shadow, and the rippled sandy bottom of the lake.
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