A beautiful and vibrant rainbow forms after a thunderstorm in Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. All the vivid colors of pinks, yellows, oranges, blues and purples can be seen by the naked eye in a full arc all the way across the sky.
A rainbow is kind of an optical illusion, but it is also a meteorological phenomenon as it occurs when the sun shines on drops of moisture in the air that are left behind after a period of heavy rain, or a thunderstorm. They can however be caused by dew and mist as well, but the colors will not be as vivid due to less moisture for the light to cling to.
When there has been an event such as a rainstorm or a thunder storm, when the sun comes back out, the light is refracted as it enters each individual raindrop, and then it is reflected off the back of the raindrop, and refracted again as it exits the drop. ... continue below the picture...
... This means that the light that entered the raindrop is dispersed at different angles and depending on the type of water droplet (seawater versus rain water for example) the effect of the rainbow is stronger and the rainbow is more vivid.
Rainbows do not exist at a particular point in the sky, and depending on where the viewer is when they see the rainbow, it will appear to move when the viewer moves. Also, the myth that a pot of gold is buried at the end of the rainbow could never come true, as the ends are always moving.
Rainbow forming during a thunder storm in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Technical Information:
I photographed this photo with the digital SLR camera model Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, aperture of f/8.0, exposure time of 1/125 sec. on ISO 100, as always I used a original Canon Lens, the focus lenght for this picture was 173mm.