APOD: 2026 August 2 – A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 2 – A Fire… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. A […]
On August 2, 2026, an astronomy photograph captured a rare phenomenon known as a fire rainbow over West Virginia, USA. This spectacle, also called a circumhorizontal arc, is a result of ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud acting like floating prisms, refracting sunlight much like a prism. The term "fire rainbow" derives from its flame-like appearance.
For such an arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees above the horizon, and the cloud in question, in this case cirrus fibratus, must have horizontal, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals. These ice-crystals must be aligned horizontally to refract sunlight collectively, making such arcs somewhat rare to observe. The featured image was taken in 2021 near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia.
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- APOD: 2026 August 2 – A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia science.nasa.gov
