🌥️ Rainbow clouds, also called iridescent clouds, create their stunning displays through a fascinating optical phenomenon called diffraction. When sunlight encounters tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in thin clouds—typically measuring just 10-40 micrometers in diameter—the light waves bend around these microscopic obstacles. ⁠ ⁠ This bending causes different wavelengths of light to scatter at slightly different angles, separating white sunlight into its component colors much like a prism would. The effect works best when the sun is positioned at a specific angle relative to the cloud and observer, usually requiring the sun to be partially hidden behind the cloud's edge or viewed through sunglasses to reduce glare.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ 🤩 Unlike traditional rainbows that form through refraction in larger raindrops, iridescent clouds rely on this diffraction process in much smaller particles, creating patches of brilliant green, pink, blue, and orange that appear to dance across the...