A construction worker captured an extremely rare natural wonder on camera from the top of a crane in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday.
This full-circle rainbow was recorded from the top of the 460-metre-high Lakhta Center skyscraper, which is being constructed in Russia’s second-largest city.
The ring of colour is so large, the worker had to pan the camera to capture its full circumference.
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A rainbow occurs when rain droplets split sunlight into wavelengths. The white light passes through the beads of water creating a refraction, bending the light and forming a coloured arc over the sky.
From the ground, it is only possible to see the light above us. But if someone is looking from a higher elevation, like a plane or the top of the building, they may be able to see more of the arc, or in this case, the entire ring of colour.
A helicopter passenger was able to capture a similar phenomenon in Australia in 2013. NASA selected Colin Leonhardt’s image of the 360-degree circle of a rainbow near Perth as its “Astronomy Picture of the Day.”
In 2014, a similar sight marvelled visitors to Niagara Falls, as mist rising from the famous horseshoe formed a full-circle rainbow.
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