While triple rainbows (known as tertiary) are possible, these photos show a slightly less are but still unique weather phenomenon beyond the double rainbow in view. As light is reflected through water droplets, a rainbow is formed and when leftover light comes back for a second reflection a double rainbow can occur.

According to Isaac Asimov, “It is customary to list indigo as a color lying between blue and violet, but it has never seemed to me that indigo is worth the dignity of being considered a separate color. Modern color scientists typically divide the spectrum between violet and blue at about 450 nm, with no indigo.

A double rainbow is considered a symbol of transformation and is a sign of good fortune in eastern cultures. It is said that the Irish leprechaun hid his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and in Genesis 9, a rainbow is part of Noah’s story in which God promises never to create another destructive global flood.

When sunlight is refracted, or split, then reflected once in droplets of water, you see a single rainbow. When light is reflected twice inside water droplets, you see a double rainbow. Three reflections create a triple rainbow, and four a quadruple rainbow. Double rainbow in Alaska.

Yes, although very rare, it is possible for a human to see four natural rainbows at once in the sky. The secondary rainbow is created by the same sunlight and the same refraction process as the primary rainbow, so it is also centered on the point exactly opposite the sun.

When sunlight and raindrops combine to make a rainbow, they can make a whole circle of light in the sky. But it’s a very rare sight. Sky conditions have to be just right for this, and even if they are, the bottom part of a full-circle rainbow is usually blocked by your horizon.