Photographer captures a perfect circular rainbow

Saturday, October 4, 2014, 12:08 PM -

Everyone's seen a rainbow. If the conditions are just right, you might even have seen the full semi-circle stretching all the way across the horizon after a downpour.

But, if the shot below is anything to go by, it is, in fact, possible for a rainbow to form a full-complete circle.

Aerial photographer Colin Leonhardt, of Birdseye View Photography, was fortunate enough to snap just such a shot last year, above Cottesloe Beach near Perth, Australia.

"We were coming back from a shoot when we had to go around a rain shower and as we went through the trailing edge of the rain - the sun was low and setting - the sunlight just created this amazing rainbow," Leonhardt told The Weather Network. "I've never seen one in 10 years. Apparently the main ingredients are to be in a helicopter/plane, sun must be about to set and you need the rain shower."

The remarkable shot was selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day last week.

The agency says it's "an observer-dependent phenomenon primarily caused by the internal reflection of sunlight by raindrops."

Leonhardt's company has lots of great aerial shots, so be sure to check out the galleries on his website. He also has a blog and a Facebook page.

DON'T MISS: Five things we're losing due to climate change.