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While most people might post pictures of rainbows to social media, Neil deGrasse Tyson would rather break down the science behind the global symbol of LBGT pride.
As a tribute to the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, which targeted the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, the host of Cosmos reached out to The City Beautiful in the best way he knows how, by dropping science on Twitter.
Try not to read these in his voice.
The exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own — a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
Rainbows are always the same angular size in the sky — they are various segments of a circle that is 84-degrees across.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
A Rainbow forms only broadside to your line of sight. That's why the pot of Gold at its base remains eternally out of reach.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
Isaac Newton, in Opticks (1704), published his discovery that white light is composed of colors – the colors in Rainbows.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
If we had vision like @StarTrek’s Giordi, Rainbows would look twice as thick, and include parts of ultraviolet & infrared.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
Newton assigned seven colors to the color-continuous Rainbow: Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet. Meet ROY G. BIV
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
Most people can take or leave Indigo as a Rainbow color, but Newton was mystically fascinated with 7, so we’re stuck with it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
And sometimes you will find colors of the Rainbow on flags. pic.twitter.com/fl9AJuJANK
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2016.
Digital Content Editor More by Colin Wolf
