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Fire Rainbow

Amanogawa also plays an important role in Japan’s Tanabata legend. The stars Vega and Altair represent Orihime and Hikoboshi, lovers separated by the heavenly river who are traditionally said to meet once a year across the Milky Way.

Pillars of Creation: Hubble / JWST

Credits: NASA, JPL, Bj�rn J�nsson, IAAA

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY August 1, 2026 at 05:00PM What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below -- in this case cirrus fibratus. The numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontalarcs are somewhat unusual to see. The featured fire rainbow was photographed in 2021 near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia, USA. Image: https://ift.tt/maIPnih via NASA https://ift.tt/5r1atfc APOD --> https://ift.tt/VJ8QchF

February 8, 2006

Rigel