a beautiful vision, but only illusion

Since the time I was awed by the big bright rainbow that I saw the other evening, outside my bedroom window.. I've been thinking about them. Subhanallah, the intricate wonders of Allah's creations. I can't even begin to describe the wonders, the amazing facts..

But ok.. so let's start with rainbows.. since I'm obsessed with rainbows these few days.. I read up on rainbow facts, and here are some nuggets on this.

1. You may see a rainbow when there's the sun behind you, and some raindrops/mist in front of you (that means you're in between). That's why we don't see rainbows in the mid afternoons.. cause the sun is above us.

2. The white light from the sun (white light are actually made up of the different colours), gets 'refracted' (or bended) as it goes into those individual raindrops, and turns back towards us. (just like how prism works).

3. it gets more technical here. The different colours (that makes white, of which seven looks more defined to us), are refracted/bended at different angles in the raindrops. And only one colour per raindrop, reaches us at the perfect angle for us to see the colour.

So, we'll see red on the upper raindrops.. and then orange, then yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet - giving us the rainbow, in our view.

4. The bigger the raindrops, the brighter the rainbow.

5. The center of the arc, that is where the middle of the diameter is, is actually right where the sun is behind us.

6. Interesting info.. rainbows are actually a circle. But because we are at the ground level, we cannot see the whole circle of a rainbow, because it goes below the horizon. However, people on airplanes or high altitudes have seen a round rainbow before.

7. People have also seen 'double rainbows'. An outer arch and an inner arch. This happens when the light gets refracted twice in the raindrop.

8. As to the question, whether we see the same rainbow? The answer is NO. Even with two person standing next to each other. We all see our own rainbow, because the angle, level, position where the
light/colours reach each of us, are different.

And I LOVE this idea.. the idea that we all see our own rainbow. :) To me, it has such profound meaning. *ponders a while*

9. It's not impossible to see a rainbow at night, although it's very rare. That can only happen when the moon is bright enough to create the same effect, as the sun.

10. You can make your own rainbow. Position yourself so that the sun is behind you.. then spray water or create mist in front of you.

Allahu'alam.

I love rainbows. :)