What looks like “rainbow pillars” is actually an optical and atmospheric phenomenon. These vertical bands of color form when sunlight passes through layers of precipitation and ice crystals beneath a dense cloud deck. As light is refracted, dispersed, and reflected by falling rain or ice, its spectrum separates into visible colors. When the precipitation falls in relatively uniform columns, the light appears stretched into vertical shafts rather than curved arcs like a typical rainbow. The refle
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What looks like “rainbow pillars” is actually an optical and atmospheric phenomenon. These vertical bands of color form when sunlight passes through layers of precipitation and ice crystals beneath a dense cloud deck. As light is refracted, dispersed, and reflected by falling rain or ice, its spectrum separates into visible colors. When the precipitation falls in relatively uniform columns, the light appears stretched into vertical shafts rather than curved arcs like a typical rainbow. The refle
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