page_title: Moonbow
section_title: Viewing
hierarchical_section_title: Moonbow / Viewing
caption_attribution_description: English: Moonbow - Cascade du Grand Pisaillas - Col de l'Iseran - France
context_page_description: A moonbow is a rainbow produced by moonlight rather than direct sunlight. Other than the difference in the light source, its formation is the same as for a solar rainbow: It is caused by the refraction of light in many water droplets, such as a rain shower or a waterfall, and is always positioned in the opposite part of the sky from the moon relative to the observer.
  Moonbows are much fainter than solar rainbows, due to the smaller amount of light reflected from the surface of the moon. Because the light is usually too faint to excite the cone color receptors in human eyes, it is difficult for the human eye to discern colors in a moonbow. As a result, a moonbow often appears to be white. However, the colors in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs.
  Moonbows have been mentioned at least since Aristotle's Meteorology.
context_section_description: Moonbows are most easily viewed when the moon is at or nearest to its brightest phase full moon.  For moonbows to have the greatest prospect of appearing, the moon must be low in the sky (at an elevation of less than 42 degrees, preferably lower) and must not be obscured by cloud. In addition, the night sky must be very dark.  Since the sky is not completely dark on a rising/setting full moon, this means they can only be observed two to three hours before sunrise (a time with few observers), or two to three hours after sunset. And, of course, there must be water droplets (e.g. from rain or spray) opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows much rarer than rainbows produced by the sun.  Moonbows may also be visible when rain falls during full moonrise at extreme latitudes during the winter months when the prevalence of the hours of darkness give more opportunity for the phenomenon to be observed.
   
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  |thumb|300px|Moonbow over Cascade du Grand Pisaillas - Col de l'Iseran - France, France
caption: AstroHub'- Cascade du Grand Pisaillas - Col de l'Iseran - France
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