h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A friend of mine who works nights, has occasionally told me that whilst travelling to work in this rainy county of Kerry in the Irish Repbulic, she has seen a rainbow, on moonlit nights, many hours after the sun has set.

Tonight on my way home I saw one too - how can this be - it was a silver bow across the sky - anyone else ever seen one?

A rainbow is the refraction of light through rain droplets.

During the day, sunlight, which contains a 'full' spectrum of colors, is separated into its respective colors due to the varying wavelengths of light.

The moon, on the other hand, doesn't reflect the full spectrum of the sun's light, so when its light is refracted through rain droplets, only a partial rainbow, a silver bow, is produced.

It sounds awesome.
Since coming to this beautiful island (up to your north in Co. Galway), I've been struck by the frequency and beauty of the rainbows here, the legacy of all that Atlantic weather and a fine clear atmosphere, but this I haven't yet seen - but now I know about it I'll watch out!

I remember, as a child, it seemed that nearly every time it rained, we'd get a beautiful rainbow o'er the lake (rather large pond, actually) across the way from us. It would disappear into the woods which back-dropped and half-surrounded the lake. Now *sigh* it seems so rare that we even get one in the daytime.

I have -never- seen a true rainbow by moonlight, and from the sounds of it, I would most certainly like to. What I have see, however, is that large ring which on rare surrounds the moon (usually on a very clear night, so it's not a rainbow) come up before the moon, and just before the moon pops up over the horizon it does take on the appearance of a silver rainbow. Perhaps just as beautiful as what you describe, but then what, in nature, isn't beautiful?

Ack! It seems cyberspace ate a few words out of that last post.

NTS (again): Proofread, proofread, proofread!

"but then what, in nature, isn't beautiful?"

The blobfish?

Donald Trump?

The nose of the beholder? (given that beauty is, per the saying, in the eye, presumably the nose is hideous).