Rare Quintuple Rainbow Captured by Photographer in New Jersey

[Judi Lynn]

By Jeanna Bryner, Live Science Managing Editor | October 2, 2018 07:30am ET

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwMS85NzUvb3JpZ2luYWwvc3VwZXJudW1lcmFyeS1yYWluYm93LmpwZw==

While shooting a sunset in New Jersey recently, photographer John Entwistle got another gorgeous sight: a sky painted with what looked like a set of five rainbows.

"I could be wrong but that sure looks like a quintuple rainbow at sunset tonight over the Jersey Shore, NJ," Entwistle wrote on Instagram on Sept. 18.

Supernumerary rainbows like this one consist of a primary rainbow — the brightest and most vivid of the bunch — as well as at least two other, less brilliant, rainbows. In the case of the rainbow captured by Entwistle, five supernumerary rainbows were visible. [Strange & Shining: Gallery of Mysterious Lights]

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63724-how-rare-quintuple-rainbow-formed.html?utm_source=notification

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Wow, what an incredible sight! So glad I saw your post, my dear Judi Lynn!

[hlthe2b]

2. I've seen more rainbows in Colorado than anywhere else I've lived--triples not infrequently

and occasionally I've seen what looked to be a quad. So, I've long felt "spoiled"...

I can say I've never seen a "fiver" though. Cool.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Can a camera filter do that?

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Hmmm ... if conditions were right for that many supernumeraries ...

there may have been other arcs, larger and fainter, that he missed.

Years ago, I saw a rainbow from the 12th floor of a tall building after a torrential rainfall that was associated with a tornado. There were at least five arcs, mostly well separated form each other; some -- arising from an even number of internal reflections -- had the colors reversed. And there were some faint supernumerary bows as well.

OF COURSE, I didn't have a camera at the time.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Would never have known what you've described was even possible.

It would be impossible to forget seeing that event.

What a time to be nowhere near a camera. Wow.

[LakeSuperiorView]

5. Those look awfully close together...

I've seen a triple rainbow and the arcs were much more widely space and the fainter ones were to the outside of the main one. This has the fainter ones to the inside, so...

[Judi Lynn]

7. You were lucky, no doubt about it! Thanks. n/t