Pictured: What's at the end of the rainbow ... and it's not a pot of gold

Pictured: What's at the end of the rainbow ... and it's not a pot of gold

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:31 PM on 12th February 2009

These amazing pictures show where a rainbow actually meets the ground - but contrary to legend there's no pot of gold in sight.

Amateur photographer Jason Erdkamp managed to capture the images as the rainbow formed briefly following a storm.

Tradition holds that there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, and Irish leprechauns are also said to be fond of hiding their treasures there.


Spectacular: The rainbow leaps directly from the tarmac in Jason Erdkamp's photograph

Mr Erdkamp said this rainbow failed to come up with the goods, but thinks it might have given him a spot of good luck.

'There was no pot of gold, but I did win US $25 dollars that night on a lottery ticket.'

Rainbows occur when sunlight is refracted through rain droplets to create an arc-shaped spectrum of colours in the sky.

This particular rainbow was caused by a storm last Sunday from a cold front moving through California's Santa Ana mountains.

Mr Erdkamp photographed it using his Apple iPhone as he travelled along the 241 toll road in Orange County.

He even managed to estimate how fast the rainbow was travelling as it moved northwards.

Speaking from his U.S. home, he said: 'Rainbows seemed very dynamic in movement when you are near their base.

'The speed of movement across the ground was about 20 to 30mph as the base of the rainbow moved with the storm. It lasted for about five minutes.'


Now the rainbow has moved. Jason estimated that it was travelling at up to 30mph

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1143482/Pictured-Whats-end-rainbow---pot-gold.html