Rainbow Contrails: A Magical Airborne Phenomenon

No matter where you find them, rainbows are just plain magical, especially when they’re being trailed off the back of an airplane.

According to the Daily Mail, German photographer Nick Beyersdorf, also known as Reddit user TheFox720p, captured a Qatar Airways A380 plane dragging a peculiar cloud of rainbow-colored trails as it was flying over Bamberg, Germany, on Monday.

However, before jumping to conclusions, it’s important to note that these strange contrails are not the result of a government conspiracy or Photoshop trickery. Instead, they represent a natural phenomenon that aviation photographers can capture if they find themselves in the right place at the right time.

“I was in the garden with my mother, and I grabbed my camera after seeing a Qatar Airways plane appear over the neighbor’s house,” Beyersdorf shared with the Daily Mail. “It wasn’t starting like normal contrails from the engines, but from the wings. So, I took quite a few pictures. Due to the angle of the sun, the contrail started to reflect rainbow colors.”

The Science Behind Colorful Contrails

In order to understand why these contrails are so colorful, it’s essential to realize that contrails are primarily formed from crystallized or frozen water vapor, which is a byproduct of jet engine combustion. Usually, contrails appear white in the sky and can linger for several hours if the air is humid enough.

Moreover, these water droplets can reflect and refract sunlight, producing a stunning rainbow effect. When this phenomenon occurs in regular clouds, it’s simply termed cloud iridescence.

According to Contrail Science, this iridescent contrail is known as an aerodynamic contrail. This occurs when air pressure and temperature over the wings drop dramatically, causing the water vapor to freeze at various sizes. These frozen droplets refract the light at different wavelengths, creating a visual effect resembling a rainbow.

Have you ever shined a light through a clear prism in school? That’s how this stunning effect works.

Additionally, according to Contrail Science, this type of contrail is more prevalent in warm, humid weather, as sufficient moisture in the air is necessary for formation.

Consequently, the next time you’re close to a plane taking off on a warm, humid day, it might be worth glancing up to witness this enchanting display.