Ray-ders of the lost arc!
QUESTION Why is the sky different colours on either side of a rainbow?
When sunlight passes through a triangular glass prism, it separates into the colours of the rainbow. This happens because different colours refract (bend) by different amounts. Blue and violet, which have the shortest wavelengths, refract the most; red light the least.
Raindrops act like miniature prisms. Rainbows appear when the observer has their back to the Sun: the sunlight shines over the shoulders and is reflected in the raindrops of a passing shower.
At a certain angle, the light will enter the raindrop, be refracted, split into the colours of the spectrum, bounce off the back of the raindrop and travel to our eyes. This causes a rainbow.
every rainbow is accompanied by a higher secondary one, caused by the light bouncing twice inside the raindrops. Because of the double reflection, the colours in the secondary rainbow are reversed. Since some light is lost out of the raindrop with every reflection, it is much fainter and often can’t be seen.
The area between the primary and secondary rainbows is known as Alexander’s dark band, an optical phenomenon named after Alexander of Aphrodisias, who first described the effect in AD 200. It is due to the fact the light in this area is being reflected at angles that don’t reach our eyes. The sky inside the primary rainbow, known as the cone, is brighter because all the raindrops reflect light back to the observer.
Pat Colburn, St Ives, Cornwall.
QUESTION What church was used in TV’s Father
Dowling Mysteries?
The show’s 43 episodes ran from 1989 to 1991. The stories were based in Chicago, but the church used for exterior and interior shots was in Denver, Colorado.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation was consecrated in 1907. The impressive red-brick building is considered a fine example of the Romanesque Revival movement.
The traditional Gothic style interior is renowned for its 34 stained glass windows by Franz Mayer of Munich, who also made the stained glass for Denver’s cathedral. The church has a 25 ft high altar of Carrara marble from Italy, golden oak pews and pillars with florid capitals supporting a vaulted ceiling.
The TV show starred Tom Bosley, who had found fame as Mr Cunningham in happy Days. he was assisted by Sister Stephanie Orkowski, known as Sister Steve, a nun with a knack for picking locks, which indicated a dodgy past. She was played by Tracy nelson, daughter of the rock ’n’ roll singer Ricky nelson.
They solved murders, abductions and other crimes in the parish despite being hindered by the bishop’s representative, Father Prestwick (James Stephens).
A quirky fact is that several supporting actors had Biblical names: Keith Amos, Mark Moses, William R. Moses (who in real life was married to Tracy nelson), Rainbow harvest and eric Christmas.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks.