A
monochrome or
red rainbow is an
optical and
meteorologicalphenomenon and a rare variation of the more commonly seen multicolored
rainbow. Its formation process is identical to that of a normal rainbow (namely the reflection/refraction of light in water droplets), the difference being that a
monochrome rainbow requires the
sun to be close to the horizon; i.e., near
sunrise or
sunset. The low angle of the sun results in a longer distance for its light to travel through the atmosphere, causing shorter
wavelengths of light, such as
blue,
green and
yellow, to be scattered and leaving primarily
red.