Incredible White Rainbow Caught on Camera in Scotland

An incredible image of a hauntingly beautiful colorless rainbow on the skies of Scotland was captured over the weekend.

Taken by a man named Melvin Nicholson, he was awed and surprised to see a colorless rainbow shaped formation in the sky. He said in an interview that he stepped off his car and immediately knew he had to take a picture of this rare moment in nature.

According to a report from the Sun UK, the temperatures during that day was around -4 degrees Celsius, Whether or not the temperature has an effect on the formation is still in question. Scientists say that what he saw is called a 'Fog Bow' or a 'White Rainbow'.

This colorless rainbow is also known as a 'fog bow' occurs almost exactly like a rainbow. On the other hand, this kind of rainbow is made up of fog. Rainbows normally occur when light gets diffracted from tiny droplets of rain in the sky. It should be noted that rainbows only occur on light drizzles as there is sufficient light still in the sky to create diffraction on tiny water droplets.

The fog bow, on the contrary, is made up of tinier droplets of water that form fog. Though it can still diffract colors such that of a rainbow, the range of colors it can create are too weak to be noticeable. What could be seen is a red outer edge and a bluish inner edge. All other colors within the range of yellow, orange and green are blended into or replaced by the red and bluish edges, making them unnoticeable.

The photographer has indicated that the white rainbow he saw was more evident when the sun was behind him. This is actually a fact for both rainbow and fog bows as they usually appear in parts of the sky which are directly opposite to the sun.