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A Rainbow?!

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Re: A Rainbow?!

Postby curt » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:10 pm

I remember seeing these while flying in a Helio Courier as a kid. It was more like a rainbow that completed a full circle. We did not get that close to the popcorn clouds themselves ... but as you get closer and closer to the cloud the full-circle rainbow turns into what Edward posted and you see your shadow is right in the middle. If you enter the clouds you will fly 'into the glory.' There's even a book with that title. The person who took this picture was sitting a bit forward of the wings since the camera perspective should be directly in the center of the glory.

I've always wondered about the bright spot that surrounds your shadow, even over the ground. There is probably a physical/optical explanation for that, but I've never heard anyone speak of it, just something I notice all the time when seeing my shadow from the air.
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Re: A Rainbow?!

Postby Darktrax » Wed Jan 18, 2017 1:30 am

bugman wrote in Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:27 pm:What you see there is not actually a rainbow but a great example of a glory
Extraordinary! I never knew that! Thanks so much Edward.
There was a long thin weak shadow sometimes, but hard to spot, and I was concentrating hard not to mess up the flying. The shadow seen in the Wikipedia link likely was from a Sun more overhead

For us was already late in the afternoon, in October, at Lattitude 57°.
By the time I had coaxed it to 11,000ft, it was past sunset on the ground, so we had to go fast to try and make it back through the last remaining hole in the cloud, (which did not go as planned)!

If a skilled contributor ever sneaks a glory into FlightGear, you can imagine the reaction!
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Re: A Rainbow?!

Postby Thorsten » Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:50 am

If a skilled contributor ever sneaks a glory into FlightGear, you can imagine the reaction!


Based on past experiences, I'd expect that someone points out that the colors really are wrong and the shadow ought to be more blurry...

We actually have rainbows that color correctly with the sunlight (try watching it at red dawnlight and you see all other colors gone - it's not just a texture) and show a full 360 deg circle under the right conditions. But you should not expect that this gets anyone stunned either.
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Re: A Rainbow?!

Postby bugman » Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:25 am

Thorsten wrote in Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:50 am:Based on past experiences, I'd expect that someone points out that the colors really are wrong and the shadow ought to be more blurry...


I have exactly the same experience with software development. But by talking to such demanding users at conferences, face to face, my opinion is that this is the group that is most appreciative of your work. It's just that that doesn't come out very well online.

Regards,
Edward
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