Steve, That was probably not a rainbow as such but a circumzenithal arc or similar. There are lots of atmospheric phenomena that look like rainbows which aren't. If you get enough altitude and are lucky enough early in the morning (or late in the evening) you can get close to a full circle rainbow.
If you go to this website http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/cza.htm it has information on many forms of halos (as opposed to rainbows). Leon On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 19:26:35 -0800, Steve Larson wrote: >Hi Leon, > I know that is the "norm" with rainbows, but I had one at high noon once. >It was a very flat bow. Just happen to snap a pic of it. > I also had one that didn`t reach the ground because it was very early in >the morning, it was a slight double. >Steve Larson >Redondo Beach, California > > > >> Technical bits about rainbows >> >> Rainbows are formed at an angle of 42 degrees at your view point, from >> the angle of the sun's rays (facing away from the sun). If you want to >> photograph a full semi circle rainbow you will need a lens with an >> angle of view of atleast 84 degrees (if you happen to be lucky enough >> to see a double rainbow you will need a 102 degree lens - double >> rainbows form at an angle of 51 degrees). You will also only see a >> full semi circle rainbow at or near sunrise or sunset. As a point of >> reference a 28 mm lens has a horizontal angle of view of 65 degrees (75 >> degrees corner to corner). >> >> >> Leon >> >> http://www.bluering.org.au >> http://www.bluering.org.au/leon >> >> > > Leon http://www.bluering.org.au http://www.bluering.org.au/leon
