Incredible moonbow photographed in Iceland
The moonbow captured on Sunday morning. Photo/Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson
When Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson, who lives on Fagurhólsmýri farm in Öræfi, South East Iceland took his dog out for a walk Sunday morning at 4:20 he couldn't believe his eyes. There in the total darkness, a rainbow had appeared.
Sigurðsson ran inside the house, grabbed a camera and captured this fascinating phenomenon, a moonbow, which was accompanied by Northern Lights in the sky.
"I just couldn't believe it. In the pitch dark of night there was a very clear rainbow. I could see the colours in it. It was just incredible. I'd never heard of such a thing before so I just had no idea what was going on."
He adds that the moon was hanging low in the sky and had shone from the west towards a slight scattering of rain to the east. The northern sky was clear which meant that the Northern Lights were clearly visible over the Öræfajökull glacier.
A moonbow is a rainbow produced by moonlight instead of sunlight and the only difference in how it's formed is the light source. Moonbows are much fainter than solar raimbows and because the light is too faint to excite the cone colour receptors in human eyes, it's difficult to discern its colours.
The Northern Lights dancing in the sky next to the moonbow. Photo/Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson
