COLUMBUS (WCMH)–The passage of a band of showers Wednesday evening ended with a beautiful and uncommon double rainbow.

Nicholas Goings and Jeff Hopson caught gorgeous views over Hilliard. Jeff commented, “There is some perfection in these times.”

A rainbow is created when sunlight strikes a raindrop and is bent, or refracted, and then is reflected internally, before bending again exiting the drop. Longer wavelengths (red) undergo less bending–this is called dispersion–compared to shorter-wavelength blue light that we see, which is why red comprises the arch and blue is found on the inside of the primary rainbow.

Less common is what we saw Wednesday evening–a double rainbow–that requires another reflection within the drop, coming from a different angle. As you can see, in the fainter double rainbow, blue is on top and red on the inside, the reverse of a primary bow.