An astonishing view of four rainbows has been spotted in the Langdales region of England's Lake District, a U.K. national park.
The rare sighting was captured in early November by Nigel Danson, a 52-year-old professional landscape photographer based in the county of Cheshire in Northwest England.
The photographer shared a viral video of the sighting in a November 7 post from his Instagram account @nigel.danson. He told Newsweek: "It is actually two double rainbows. The second set of rainbows is caused by a reflection off Lake Windermere and is an extremely rare phenomenon."
The rainbows lasted around 45 seconds, "as the rain was passing through quickly," he said.
"I have seen many double rainbows...but [it was my] first time seeing four rainbows," Danson added.
What Causes Multiple Rainbows?
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that occurs when the sunlight and atmospheric conditions as well as the viewer's position are "just right to see it," explains SciJinks, a website of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Rainbows require water droplets to be floating in the air, which is why they're spotted just after it rains. "The sun must be behind you and the clouds cleared away from the sun for the rainbow to appear," the NOAA website says.
"Light enters a water droplet, slowing down and bending as it goes from air to denser water. The light reflects off the inside of the droplet, separating into its component wavelengths—or colors. When light exits the droplet, it makes a rainbow," the website explains.
Violet, the shortest wavelength of visible light, bends the most, while red, the longest wavelength, bends the least.
Sometimes a fainter secondary rainbow can be seen above the primary rainbow, which is caused by a second reflection inside the water droplet.
This "re-reflected" light exits the water drop at a different angle, exiting at "50 degrees instead of 42 degrees for the red primary bow."
"This is why the secondary rainbow appears above the primary rainbow. The secondary rainbow will have the order of the colors reversed, too, with red on the bottom and violet on the top," the website says.
'Pristinely Breathtaking'
Danson shared images showing all four rainbows in an Instagram post shared on November 11.
In a caption shared with the post, he said: "This was a highlight of my recent trip to the Lake District...so amazing. Nature has a way of surprising us like this. I love how there are infinite possible variations of weather giving rise to phenomena like this..."
Danson, who is also an ambassador for Nikon, quit his office job working as the founder of a software company in 2017 to pursue a career as a professional photographer.
"I wanted to follow what I loved, as simple as that. Life is too short to do something you don't enjoy," he told Newsweek.
Several users on TikTok were blown away by the latest rainbow sighting.
User saracopitz said: "That is pristinely breathtaking."
User sambinding noted: "That's absolutely bonkers."
User dahl.photo wrote: "OMG. This is amazing. Nature at its finest."
User emmafwright simply wrote "Stunning!!!!" and darylswalker said "That is insane."
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Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel and health.
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