moonbow
noun

- a rainbow formed by light from the moon

Merriam-Webster

—
ORIGIN

The word “rainbow” derives from the Old English renboga; Old Frisian reinboga, Old Norse regnbogi, Swedish regenbåge, Dutch regenboog, German Regenbogen.

The moonbow phenomenon was mentioned over 2,000 years ago in Aristotle’s Meteorology (ca. 350 BC).

—
A moonbow is caused by the refraction of moonlight in many water droplets, such as a rain shower or a waterfall, and is always positioned in the opposite part of the sky from the moon relative to the observer.

Because the light is usually too faint to excite the cone colour receptors in human eyes, it is difficult to discern colours in a moonbow. As a result, a moonbow often appears to be white. However, the colours in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs.

Keith S. Walklet, “Lunar Rainbows – When to View and How to Photograph a Moonbow”

—
SYNONYMS

feelybow, MOONBOW, moon rainbow, white rainbow

—
Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“Marc is a night-sky photographer.His ambition is to photograph a MOONBOW.”

—
HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

Paul Smith