Moonbow

Not really anything to do with gardening, or food or wine, but this was a first for me. We were driving back at 11 p.m. on the day of the full moon last Friday. The moon was low behind us, lighting up that half of the sky, while ahead of us there were dark rain clouds over the hills. It had just rained, so everything was glistening in the moonlight. Ahead of us, arching over a village a couple of kilometres away, was a wide low silvery bow, which moved away from us as we approached, but stayed visible in the distance as we drove home. I wasn't even sure that such a thing was possible, but I said 'Is it a moonbow?' I've since had this confirmed by an Internet search - apparently moonbows are rare, except in some areas of the world near large waterfalls, like Cumberland Falls, Kentucky, USA. They depend on certain conditions: a full moon that is low in the sky and rain the other side of the sky from the moon. Slow-shutter speed photos show that they have all the colours of a daytime rainbow, it's just that the human eye can't see colours in the dark. It was a very special sight, and one which I don't suppose I'll ever see again. You can see a photo of one at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1143460