Double Rainbow

(click the photo for full-screen)

This morning was one of my least favourite kinds of weather - sideways rain due to strong winds. The umbrella is merely used for its placebo effects. The sun broke through the clouds at around 5pm, with sunset due at 5:27pm (so early in Tokyo). As I walked past one of the labs, I noticed an amazing colour in the sky, and made a dash for the emergency fire escape - to be treated by a view like no other... a double rainbow (二重の虹) over Tokyo Sky Tree. I switched my camera to manual mode, as I wanted maximum detail and control over the exposure. The above is the result of a 3-photo vertical stitch, as the arc was just too wide. I think I've probably got an opening slide for the next presentation I give on atmospheric aerosols!

Info: Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and appear at an angle of 50–53° (a single rainbow is at 42º). As a result of the second reflection, the colours of a secondary rainbow are inverted compared to the primary bow, with blue on the outside and red on the inside. The secondary rainbow is fainter than the primary because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one and because the rainbow itself is spread over a greater area of the sky. The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called Alexander's band.

Goroawase

Tokyo Sky Tree towers above Tokyo at a height of 634m, broadcasting HD television (amongst its other uses). Its height of 634m was no accident; it stands in the old province of Musashi and the numbers 6 (mu) 3 (sa) 4 (shi) spell out mu-sa-shi.

Using numbers to spell out words in this manner is called Goroawase in Japanese, and is extremely popular. In another example, the number 23 can be read as "ni san", and the car manufacturer Nissan frequently enter cars numbered '23' into motorsport events.

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Rooftop garden

As you can see from the first photo, space is at such a premium in Tokyo that the most likely place to find a garden, is on a rooftop! 

Here's a direct link to a 100% JPEG of the first photo, which was taken at a distance of 6.1km from Tokyo Sky Tree

Focussing on falling rain

These two photos were taken within a few seconds of each other at the top of my work building, outside in the rain. In the top image, I focussed on the horizon. In the lower image, I manually focussed on a plane of falling rain, in an attempt to catch the raindrops mid-flight.

After just dodging the rain this morning, I wanted to keep dry. I just about achieved the look I was after with these photos, but I didn't have long. Soon after the lower shot was taken, I hurried inside to the safety of my building, protected from the lashing rain of the storm outside.