Hello everyone! I am Claire, Claire St. Cloud. I am so glad you're here right now. It's relatively sunny right now, but it's about to rain...do you what that means?

Rainbows!

What comes to mind when you hear the word rainbow? Maybe you see a bunch of colors, a sunny day, maybe even a pot of gold! But have you ever really thought about what a rainbow is?

A rainbow is a multi-colored arc that forms in the sky. There are a number of different events that must occur before we can see one. It all has to do with light from the sun and raindrops!

When the white sunlight passes through raindrops, they act like tiny prisms. They bend the different colors in white light, so the light spreads out into a band of colors.

Sunlight looks white, but it is really made up of many different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet...the colors you see in the rainbow!

There are several different types of rainbows, some that you've probably seen, and others you most likely have not.

You are probably most familiar with a rainbow that looks like this. This is a primary rainbow.

Primary rainbows are single arcs of color that usually appear after rainstorms!

No need to adjust your eyes, you're seeing right! There are two rainbows here. This type of rainbow is called a secondary rainbow, or as it is more commonly known, a double rainbow.

Sometimes, rainbows can form after a rainfall that is during sunrise or sunset. The shorter wavelengths of the color spectrum, such as blue and green, are scattered by dust and air molecules. This leaves the remaining light to display the colors with the longest wavelengths, red and yellow, to finally form the red, or monochrome rainbow!

Lunar rainbows are rainbows that are formed at night by moonlight. However, moonlight is very weak and lunar rainbows are very rarely seen. The best time to see them is on the night of a full moon while it’s raining.

So let's review! Do you remember what rainbow consists of a single arc of color?

A primary rainbow, right!

What about when there are two rainbows seen at the same time?

A double rainbow, you got it!

gsgx

Do you remember what type of rainbow happens during sunrise or sunset?

If you said red, or monochrome rainbow, you're right!

xlnl

What rainbows aren't seen too often, but are formed by moonlight?

Lunar rainbows, good job!