Moonbow For Night

We are know about what is Rainbow.Anyone know what is Moonbow.so i give some facts about Moonbow.Moonbows are rare natural atmospheric phenomena that occur when the Moon’s light is reflected and refracted off water droplets in the air.

Moonbows are similar to rainbows.A Moonbow is also commonly referred to as a lunar rainbow or white rainbow.When a beam of sunlight passes through a water droplet its light gets split into its component colours due to the droplet’s refractive properties. This produces the full range of colours or 'spectrum' with which we are all so familiar with. The genesis of the Moonbow is no different with the exception that the light source is replaced by the Moon itself. This is where our connection with the daylight bow ends, for to get the correct ingredients for a lunar version we need to accommodate several other criteria.Some criteria are-

1) Although Moonbows can be seen anytime the Moon is conspicuous in the sky the best examples are witnessed when the Moon phase is bright. This means that the period around full Moon and the two days before and after when the gibbous phase is particularly brilliant are the favoured hunting window periods to catch them.

2) A dazzling Moon in the sky on its own will not produce a bow without water droplets in the atmosphere so rain is the next important ingredient. The enthusiastic Moonbow seeker should choose an unsettled night with good clear spells and periodic showers which often occur in the wake of a retreating cold front. Although water droplet size can also play a role in the quality of the bow, including the distance between the falling precipitation and observer, these come second place to the correlation between the Moon’s location in a clear sky with showers falling in the region opposite the Moon. It is this anti-lunar point where a bow will suddenly form, so by simply standing with your back to the Moon you will be looking in the correct area which will be directly in front of you.

3) Due to the particular atmospheric optical parameters of water droplets and light it pays to be outside at a time when the Moon is at a favourable height in the sky. If the Moon is greater than 42 degrees (84 apparent Moon diameters) above the horizon then no bow can form so a lower Moon altitude should be sought after. A low Moon elevation will generate a large bow, and high Moon elevation a small bow.
These are the basic conditions necessary for the formation of a Moonbow. However, getting these all together at the same time is exactly why sightings of this beautiful phenomena are so rare.Moonbows have been mentioned at least since Aristotle's Meteorology (circa 350 BC), and also in an 1847 publication.Moonbows are most easily viewed when the moon is at or nearest to its brightest phase full moon. For moonbows to have the greatest prospect of appearing, the moon must be low in the sky (at an elevation of less than 42 degrees, preferably lower) and the night sky must be very dark. Since the sky is not completely dark on a rising/setting full moon, this means they can only be observed 2 to 3 hours before sunrise (a time with few observers), or 2 to 3 hours after sunset. And, of course, there must be rain falling opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows much rarer than rainbows produced by the sun. Moonbows may also be visible when rain falls during full moonrise at extreme latitudes during the winter months, when the prevalence of the hours of darkness give more opportunity for the phenomenon to be observed.[citation needed] One good location for viewing 'true moonbows' is Waimea 'Kamuela', Hawaii Island,Numerous places in the world feature spray-, fog- or mist-induced bows Yosemite National Park, California and Cumberland Falls, near Corbin, Kentucky.Victoria Falls, in Africa on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, cloud forests of Costa Rica.This are some information about Moonbows.