By 20:00, a small group of people had gathered along the dark path, waiting for the Moon to rise high enough. Waiting for the light to align. Waiting for something that may or may not appear at all.
The waiting itself became part of the experience. Now and then, someone eagerly pointed into the mist, convinced they’d spotted it; a faint arc that dissolved as quickly as it appeared.
And then, finally, there it was.
Seeing the moonbow felt surreal after so much uncertainty. The reactions of the people around me mirrored my own: quiet gasps and half-laughed disbelief. For a while, no one uttered a word, as if speaking too loudly would make it disappear.
The moonbow had none of the sharpness of a daytime rainbow. Its light was diffused, its colours subdued and its edges softer. Strong told me that because moonlight is so much fainter than sunlight, moonbows appear dimmer and their colours are harder for the human eye to distinguish.
Around me, cameras clicked softly, their long exposures revealing what the eye could not fully capture: streaks of red, blue and violet hidden within the pale white arc.
Long-exposure photography can reveal the moonbow’s hidden colors more vividly than the naked eye.
READ MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE…
