Rainbow

[ladybarbara]

Is it true that if you are at one of the Poles a rainbow will appear as a circle?

[Lennon]

Regardless of being at Poles, I've been told that a rainbow will always be circular if you were to see if from the air, its only from ground level that it appears as a half circle.

[seb brown]

I'm no weather expert, but am pretty sure there's no way a rainbow appears as a circle, regardless of where you are. They always have to touch the ground don't they, cus of the way they work? They're made by light passing through air with moisture in it, at an angle. When you say they appear as a circle, do you mean just sort of a floating disk of colour? Regarding seeing rainbows from above, I've seen rainbows from above from a plane window. In this case it still appears as an arch in the sky still reaching to the ground.

[melandraf]

..have seen, on telly , a little aeroplane flying over a rainbow and it was indeeed circular as seen from the air... weird. All to do with refraction i s'pose...