A Very Prominent Alexander’s Band Darkens The Skies Between Two Brilliant Rainbows Over Cave Creek

The first thing undoubtedly noticed when looking at the above image is the massive double rainbow. This photo was captured almost at the moment of sunset, drawing up the height of the rainbows to near their maximum possible values. A closer look at the images, however, will reveal something a little more peculiar. The sky between the two rainbow arcs is darker than the sky outside of the rainbow arcs. This is the optical phenomenon known as Alexander’s Band, named for Alexander of Aphrodisias who first described the phenomenon around 200 AD. It is created in the same process as the rainbows themselves, albeit with a much different outcome. Thus, the rainbows and Alexander’s Band both need the same conditions: a source of water droplets that are not too large, opposite a source of white light, with an observer between the two but not within the water droplet region. In the case seen above these would be a monsoon storm to the east with a setting sun to the west while The Wild Images Team Photographer, Jeremy Robinson, is positioned between with a camera. Light from the sun enters into to each droplet, reflects off the back edge, then exits back out in the opposite direction. During the time the light is inside the water droplet, it experiences dispersion, the phenomenon where light of different wavelengths (colors) refract (bend) at different angles, separating apart so that the resulting appearance is a separated band of colors which we call a rainbow. Light that enters a droplet and reflects twice before it exits back out creates the second rainbow. However, each reflection flips the light waves so that the second rainbow ends up with its wavelengths (colors) in a reverse order. The zone in between the two is where Alexander’s Band ends up. This is the region where light also enters the droplets and reflects off of the back edge, but when it exits back out it is at an angle that does not reach the observer directly; most of it never reaches the observer at all, and the portion that does reach the observer passes through or reflects off of multiple droplets. The result is a greatly diminished amount of light in the region, and it appears darker than the surrounding sky which itself is already darkened by an intense monsoon storm over the mountains. The Wild Images Team has captured many other photos in Arizona, such as the colorful storm buildup in the painted desert, the stark view of an incredibly tall monsoon cloud over desert, the sky covering massive anvil cloud over the mountains, the isolation in the curtains of rain over the Navajo Nation, the deep red lightning scene in the Mazatzals, the moment Zeus throws a bolt over Cave Creek, the network of colorful bolts over the Sedona ridges, the rainfall created colorful dry wash in bloom, the dangerous stripe-tailed scorpion climbing plants, the deep desert late night glowing bark scorpions, the dynamic image of a honeybee on an exotic wildflower, the view of a hummingbird among the thick wildflowers, a lucky shot of a great horned owl roosting in mesquite tree, the evening view of an organ pipe cactus, the serene scene of ocotillos and saguaro cacti, the view from Bell Rock of scrub brush and phenomenally colorful cliffs, this precarious Wupatki box canyon dwelling, a look up at the very majestic Wukoki Pueblo ruins, a chance encounter with a thunderstorm through a Wukoki Pueblo window, and the spiny sharp glass sculpture with cacti, each of which are available for sale in our store. Our blog posts from Arizona have documented the close up of a large stripe-tailed scorpion, the animated behavior of a great horned owl, the nearly daily encounters with the multitude of rattlesnakes, the mysterious darkness created by a very prominent Alexander’s Band between two brilliant rainbows, the crazy late sunset when red rain fell over the Mazatzal Mountains, monsoon season forming rain curtains hanging in front of the sunset, the sunset moment when delicate rain curtains fell in front of a darkening sky, spring rainfall creating a colorful desert bloom in a dry wash, the dynamic view of a honeybee equipped with dual pollen baskets among the blooms, the red sunlit clouds with a rainbow over the foothills of Black Mountain, the massive spectacle of a giant spiderweb of lightning over Black Mountain, near Sedona where red cliffs are framed by cane chollas, the reddish glow of sunset lighting an organ pipe cactus, the precarious location of the cliff edge Box Canyon ruins, the strategic location of the majestic Montezuma Castle Sinagua dwellings, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at a scenic Grand Canyon overlook, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina in front of the Wupatki Pueblo, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tombstone and the Original Bird Cage Theatre history, its interior eponymic Bird Cage balcony seats, its secretive hidden door beneath the stage, through which lies the underground hidden gambling room, next to a hidden room for a lady of the night, the OK Corral Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp and Wyatt Earp and their gun fight with Tom McClaury, Frank McClaury, and Billy Clanton, the Boothill Graveyard headstone of Lester Moore and the headstone of John Heath, the reflective multicolored boatload of glass, the mass of blue and white glass atop a wall, the lighted view of purple stem vegetation glass, the lighted view of red stem vegetation glass, the closer view of the textures and shapes of Chihuly glass, the overlook view of Comet Neowise with a saguaro, which was brightly shining over the town of Cave Creek, eventually with its bright green coma and tail, as it appears to drop down into a saguaro grove, the day when rare snow fell in the Sonoran Desert and covered Black Mountain in a white blanket, the weeks of a devastating large record setting Bush Fire that continuously raged through the Superstition Mountains, the day when the Aquila Fire burned through Desert Hills causing massive destruction to a few structures, the day that the East Desert Fire nearly burned into the Cave Creek area, and then two weeks later the day when the devastating Ocotillo Fire did burn down into and throughout the estates which were protected by spectacular firefighting around the town of Cave Creek leaving behind this iconic image.

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