After a brief rain early Thursday evening, an apparent double rainbow was visible over Ann Arbor Trail in Plymouth Township.
Plymouth Patch editor John McKay caught this phenomenon on his phone while stopped at a traffic light.
Primary rainbows, such as the one prominently featured in the photo, are visible when light reflects once off the back of a raindrop, according to AccuWeather.com. According to meterologists at the site, a double rainbow — a dimmer, less visible rainbow just outside of a primary rainbow — can be seen when light is reflected twice in a more complicated pattern.
In this photo, the faint colors of a double rainbow can be seen to the left of the primary rainbow. The colors of the second rainbow are inverted, with blue on the outside and red moved to the inside.
According to AccuWeather.com, the second bow appears dimmer and cloudier because much more light is released from two reflections, and both bows cover a larger portion of the sky.
