A stunning series of photographs show rainbow-colored condensation trails trailing behind planes landing at London Heathrow Airport. The pictures were taken from the ground as the plane flew over the photographer's home in South London.
The delightful rainbow effect occurs when sunlight hits frozen water vapor particles that trail behind the aircraft. The beams are reflected at various angles, resulting in a chic multi-colored fan. The phenomenon can be seen only at a particular height of the flying aircraft and the correct angle of view of the observer.
Photographer Adam Gray, 30, noticed a strange optical illusion while in his garden and managed to photograph it.
“I just got home from work and took photographs of the condensation trails of the planes that landed at Heathrow,” says the photographer. - I noticed that when the planes flew at certain angles, the condensation trails became bright and colored. This happened more often with large aircraft than with small ones. I had no idea what I was seeing, so I turned to Google for an explanation."
The phenomenon occurs when sunlight strikes an aircraft's condensation trail - clouds of water vapor and soot particles ejected from engines.
White trails of condensation often dissipate in a few minutes, but can sometimes hang in the sky for hours. Water particles form a wide "tail" of millions of ice crystals. Crystals come in different sizes and shapes. Droplets of different sizes have different optical properties and, when interacting with sunlight, produce a variety of colors. When the rays enter the crystal, they are refracted at different angles, giving the condensation trail a bright spectrum of colors.
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