16 February 2008
A Red Bow
The red bow is a rainbow that glows mostly in red. It can be observed only during sunrise or sunset, when sunlight is reddened by the relatively thick air near the horizon.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist
On the late evening of 13 February 2008, it rained heavily, in Alexandria, Egypt. Observing the powerful rainstorm from the BA Plaza, BA Senior Astronomy Specialist, Aymen Ibrahem, imaged a spectacular rainbow, and recorded the entire stages of its development. While fading gradually, during sunset, the rainbow glowed in a fascinating red hue. This rainbow is known as red bow.
Red bows can be observed only during sunrise or sunset, when sunlight is reddened by the relatively thick atmospheric layers near the horizon. Therefore, only the red wavelengths of sunlight are reflected by raindrops.
Ibrahem took intriguing images of the red bow. Some of his photos are presented in the picture gallery below.
Picture Gallery
Fig (1)
Red Bow over the BA
A segment of the red bow glows over the BA.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA Senior Astronomy Specialist
Fig (2)
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA Senior Astronomy Specialist
Further Reading
Atmospheric Optics (a famous website by Les Cowley)
A Spectacular Rainbow Wows Sky Observer
http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=215
A Rainless Rainbow
http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=189
Glowing Beauties
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Calm after the Storm
http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=199
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem