Circumhorizontal Arc at Sunset
Taken by Helio C. Vital on February 19, 2019 @ Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil
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  Camera Used: NIKON COOLPIX P900
Exposure Time: 10/1250
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO: 125
Date Taken: 2019:02:19 19:04:14
  
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Details:
The photos show a bright circumhorizontal arc low above the northeastern horizon. They were taken at 18:02-18:05 (UTC-3h), about 20 minutes before sunset, with a Nikon P900 CoolPix Camera using its auto mode.
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Comments
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This is certainly not a circumhorizontal arc, nor an ice crystal halo at all. The image shows a small section of a rainbow with its bright inner area at right. A circumhorizontal arc has rainbow colours as well indeed, but it exclusively appears when sun is very high in the sky, and then, it is positioned exactly under the sun itself.
Posted by pphv 2019-02-20 02:34:13
Indeed, many thanks for your accurate remarks, pphv. Based on the appearance of the shortest segment of a rainbow I have ever seen and also on the fact that it was too far from the Sun to be a halo, I had rushed to that false conclusion, sorry. I should have also considered that it could not be a circumhorizontal arc because the Sun was very low in the sky. In addition, in order to be an arc, the colorful pattern should stretch horizontally, while this bow clearly exhibited a prevailing vertical component instead. Amazingly, there was not any other visible sign of the rest of the rainbow in the sky. That also added to my mistake.
Posted by hcvital 2019-02-20 20:07:29
 
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