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the_original_Retro t1_j26sjzj wrote

Reply to comment by RangerBumble in A beautiful day in Centerville, Washington [OC] [4000 x 2670] by CodyChrome

Take a physics course ok?

No, no it was not.

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RangerBumble t1_j273p7n wrote

Centerville is 45.75°N. This puts the sun at only 20.85° high at noon last week because it it winter. The center of the rainbow would be equidistant 20° below the horizon. For a 42° internal diamiter atmospheric rainbow the radius is 21°. This leaves a .15° gap between the horizon and the 2° width of the rainbow. That's not quite exactly what is shown in the photo bit it is very close.

If this is a recent photo I believe it was taken around noon.

Edit: The image shows a rainbow with approximately 6° of height above the horizon. This would require the sun to be 15° high. This would be between 9:54 and 9:59am or between 2:10 and 2:15pm last week. I admit that this is quite a bit further from noon than I initially expected. I would love for OP to chime in with the metadata and tell me how close I am with my napkin calculation. I am not sure if the surface is level or even if the rainbow is exactly 6° high.

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LiuMeien t1_j27o9ba wrote

This is all Greek to me, but this whole convo is funny. This went from “take a physics course” to you busting out a whole “napkin calculation.” Also, your username checks out.

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