Picture of the Day

Sunlight Through a Glass of Water

November 28, 2020   ―-  Archive

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Here is sunlight that has come through a cylindrical glass of water. The glass is on the right and a tabletop is to its left. The bright area, which is wide near the glass edge and narrows further away, indicates that the glass of water is serving as a converging lens. We're not sure as to the explanation of the dispersion (rainbow colors), but it appears to be coming from higher up in the glass since we can block the sunlight further down with our hand, thereby eliminating the focusing effect, yet the dispersion still remains.

Equipment used: Canon EOS Rebel T5i with a standard zoom lens (EF-S 18-55 mm).

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Authors: Richard Hollos and Stefan Hollos