Paging Bill Nye! Vol. 2

[c9]

On my flight from Montréal -- whose airport has gotten more than a little depressed of late -- to Charlottetown -- whose airport gives a bit of a chuckle to frequent international travelers, I'd wager -- a curious sight could be seen.

Once above the clouds, with the sun shining on us from the right, I could see a circular rainbow (actually three complete cycles of the light spectrum) on the clouds opposite the sun. I hypothesize that the plane was causing a slight diffraction of the sunlight, which was pretily projected on the clouds below and to the left of us.

But why? I don't completely grasp what the plane was doing, and why it didn't simply project a shadow.

I'm also not convinced that it was projected, since of course rainbows are really the moisture in the air, but clouds are moisture too. Damn the many facets and layers of science! Damn them!

I'm sitting in seat 1A on a CRJ-100. Not the funnest plane around. I always put my winter coat in my checked bag too, so I get to walk to and from the plane in my short-sleeve shirt. Woo!

Comments

[sarah-sosiak.livejournal.com]

That's sad about Dorval, they were only just fixing it up when we were in school. (I remember the airport looking slightly different every time I flew through it as they upgraded it to take on the International traffic from Mirabel, I think they only finished it in my last year (2001).)

[c9.livejournal.com]

It wasn't really that bad, but it looked... tired. They are still upgrading, including the Maritimes gates, but still.

[sarah-sosiak.livejournal.com]

Is the "Maritimes" gate still the little infield terminal that you get through via a wormhole connection to 1972 underneath the tarmac?

[c9.livejournal.com]

That's the one!