Photo of 'triple rainbow' goes viral
Digital Reporter
Thursday, March 17, 2016, 5:50 PM - Move over, double rainbow. There's a new internet sensation in town.
A photo of what appears to be a 'triple rainbow' has gone viral online racking up nearly 1 million views after it was uploaded to the content-sharing site Reddit Wednesday.
Reddit user smk_274 posted the photo with the caption, "Saw a triple rainbow in Oswego, NY tonight."
SPRING IS HERE: How will El Niño affect your spring? Find out with the The Weather Network’s Spring Forecast. #SpringForecast
Rainbows form when they sun's rays come into contact with rain droplets, which act as prisms that break up the light into a variety of colours.
A double rainbow forms when refracted light is unable to escape from a raindrop, and part of the ray is reflected again.
Photo credit: Imgur/smk_274
A triple rainbow (also referred to as tertiary rainbows) is exceedingly rare. According to a 2011 article by the Optical Society of America (OSA), only five have been observed in the past 250 years.
But research by the OSA insists tertiary rainbows are possible, and they're caused by three reflections of a light ray from within a raindrop.
NOW ON YOUTUBE: Subscribe to The Weather Network's YouTube channel for access to the best weather-related videos in Canada VIEW THE CHANNEL | VIEWER VIDEOS | POPULAR NOW | SUBSCRIBE
"Although staggeringly rare, tertiary and quaternary rainbows are natural products of the combination of refraction, dispersion, and reflection inside raindrops. These are the same processes that create all rainbows, yet they are taken to their most extreme to produce these higher order variants," The OSA writes.
While smk_274 certainly managed to capture a spectacular sight, it's unclear if the photo represents a true tertiary rainbow.
One Reddit user, for example, was skeptical.
"Not a triple rainbow - probably just a reflection of the primary rainbow," user Bobbinnn said.
Still, it makes for a pretty picture.
RELATED VIDEO: DOUBLE RAINBOW IN SWAN HILLS, ALBERTA:
