A burst of colour lit up the sky above Singapore yesterday causing people in the city state grabbing their cameras to take snaps.
The rare phenomenon, known as a fire rainbow, stayed in the sky on Monday afternoon for 15 minutes before disappearing.
But despite its name, a fire rainbow is not caused by either a fire or a rainbow.
The stunning phenomenon causes rainbow-like colours to fan out across the sky which also produces the appearance of flames.
This is how the rare weather event gets its name of a fire rainbow.
However, they are scientifically known as a circumhorizontal arc and are actually optical illusions.
Fire rainbows are formed when the sun has risen higher that 58 degrees in the sky.
They also rely on the right type of cloud and the sun to be shining at a certain angle to create the colourful sky.
A spokesman for scientists at NASA said: “The sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present.
“Furthermore, the numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight like a single gigantic prism.
“Therefore, circumhorizon arcs are quite unusual to see.”
However, these conditions don’t just cause circumhorizontal arcs. Iridescent clouds and infralateral arcs can also create beautiful rainbow-coloured clouds.
As the sun needs to be at an elevation of 58 degrees or higher, it means some locations have a greater chance of a fire rainbow forming.
The best place to see a fire rainbow is in a place that has a mid latitude and is close to the equator.
However, it also depends on weather conditions so the right type of cloud also has to be in the sky.
The rare phenomenon, known as a fire rainbow, stayed in the sky on Monday afternoon for 15 minutes before disappearing.
But despite its name, a fire rainbow is not caused by either a fire or a rainbow.
The stunning phenomenon causes rainbow-like colours to fan out across the sky which also produces the appearance of flames.
This is how the rare weather event gets its name of a fire rainbow.
However, they are scientifically known as a circumhorizontal arc and are actually optical illusions.
Fire rainbows are formed when the sun has risen higher that 58 degrees in the sky.
They also rely on the right type of cloud and the sun to be shining at a certain angle to create the colourful sky.
A spokesman for scientists at NASA said: “The sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present.
“Furthermore, the numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight like a single gigantic prism.
“Therefore, circumhorizon arcs are quite unusual to see.”
However, these conditions don’t just cause circumhorizontal arcs. Iridescent clouds and infralateral arcs can also create beautiful rainbow-coloured clouds.
As the sun needs to be at an elevation of 58 degrees or higher, it means some locations have a greater chance of a fire rainbow forming.
The best place to see a fire rainbow is in a place that has a mid latitude and is close to the equator.
However, it also depends on weather conditions so the right type of cloud also has to be in the sky.
Music: "Indore" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: The Sun , Strange Sounds , Daily Mail.
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