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πŸͺ Space and stars 🌈 Sights in the sky

Rainbow

Rainbow

πŸ“– In short

The rain has stopped and the sun has come out, and a wonderful arc of colors appears in the sky! It's a rainbow. It isn't something you can touch; it's sunlight split into its beautiful colors by tiny drops of water in the air.

🀩 Did you know?

  • A rainbow has 7 main colors we can see clearly.
  • From an airplane window you can sometimes see a rainbow as a complete circle!
  • You can never reach the end of a rainbow, because it moves whenever you move.
  • Rainbows can also be seen near waterfalls and fountains.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 The secret of the colors

Sunlight looks white, but it's really a mixture of many colors. When it enters raindrops it bends and spreads out, so the colors appear separately.

πŸ” Rainbow colors

The order of a rainbow's colors is always: red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally violet.

πŸ’‘ Where should you stand to see it?

To see a rainbow, the Sun must be behind you and the rain or spray in front of you. Try it with a garden hose on a sunny day!

🎯 Two at once!

Sometimes a second, fainter rainbow appears above the first, with its colors in reverse order.

πŸ“Έ More pictures

Rainbow
Rainbow
Rainbow

🧩 Test yourself

1 Where must the Sun be for you to see a rainbow?

2 How many main colors does a rainbow have?

3 What is the first color at the top of a rainbow?

4 Which picture shows β€œRainbow”?

πŸͺ Discover more

πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons