Fraunhofer lines in rainbow ?

Fraunhofer lines are dark lines in the sun’s spectrum. They are caused by resonant atomic absorption of the sun’s thermal continuum radiation by photospheric gases.

The lines provide clues to the chemical composition of the solar atmosphere, as well as its physical conditions like temperature, pressure, magnetic fields etc.

My rainbow photography dated 11.Oct.2013 showed some greyish bands in the yellow.

Are they traces of the strongest Fraunhofer lines or artifacts of the camera’s sensor being unable to profile intermediate colors?
Is it possible at all to obtain spectral lines in nature without a prism or grating?

Author: Michael Großmann, Kämpfelbach, Germany

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Posted on June 1, 2014, in observations, rainbow and fogbow, theory and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

  1. Wouldn’t the angular size of the sun make this highly unlikely?

  2. Michael Großmann

    I also think it is unlikely. But other observations I’ve never seen so clearly this line. Thx for your comment!

  3. Yes, I agree, it’s puzzling.

  4. I’ve never seen a rainbow like this before. It’s quite interesting!

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