Is this a cloudbow? How does this particular type form?

[Gregory Venarsky]

Here is a photo that I took early in the morning. The sun wasn’t very far above the horizon. I have seen cloud bows before but not in this way. Is this a cloud bow? How does this particular type form?

[Hans Stocker]

You spotted a gorgeous partial cloudbow, Gregory. Nothing mysterious about this one in my opinion. In the same way a rainbow can be partial, also a fogbow can be partial. The bow is only there where the tiny droplets of the clouds in the middle reflect, refract and diffract the light to form the bow. I hope to spot one like that too…. next year?

[Author]

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