<p>This is my first post, so I apologise in advance for its poor quality.</p>
<p>Yesterday morning I was on an early morning flight over New Zealand's South Island travelling North. At around 7:00 am, the sun had just risen in the east, and I was sitting on the opposite side of the plane. Out my window, I took the photo attached facing west. Sadly, my phone camera could not adequately capture the colours I could see, I was able to see each colour of the rainbow, to my surprise, even a sliver of green was visible. In the photo, most colours are visible, but they were more vibrant to my eyes.</p>
<p>I have a basic understanding of how light works, but could someone explain to me how this works? It looked spectacular, and I want to understand it.</p>
<p>Additional, If this particular phenomenon has a name, I would greatly appreciate learning it.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/CbvD3cXr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CbvD3cXr.jpg" alt="Photo of a rainbow horizon from a plane window" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T17:58:29.957Z
This probably is the [Belt of Venus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus)
klanomath
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-05T06:58:33.990Z
It does appear to be, some photos I saw online of it looked quite similar to the photo I took. Thanks for the help @klanomath.
KyrVorga
<atmosphere><sun><light><horizon>
Rainbow coloured horizon opposite sunrise
KyrVorga
# Rainbow coloured horizon opposite sunrise

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-05-01)

This is my first post, so I apologise in advance for its poor quality.

Yesterday morning I was on an early morning flight over New Zealand's South Island travelling North. At around 7:00 am, the sun had just risen in the east, and I was sitting on the opposite side of the plane. Out my window, I took the photo attached facing west. Sadly, my phone camera could not adequately capture the colours I could see, I was able to see each colour of the rainbow, to my surprise, even a sliver of green was visible. In the photo, most colours are visible, but they were more vibrant to my eyes.

I have a basic understanding of how light works, but could someone explain to me how this works? It looked spectacular, and I want to understand it.

Additional, If this particular phenomenon has a name, I would greatly appreciate learning it.

[![Photo of a rainbow horizon from a plane window](https://i.sstatic.net/CbvD3cXr.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/CbvD3cXr.jpg)

**Tags:** atmosphere, sun, light, horizon

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This probably is the [Belt of Venus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus)  
> **username_0**: It does appear to be, some photos I saw online of it looked quite similar to the photo I took. Thanks for the help @username_1.  

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## 0 answers

