Read rainbow diagrams in ManYue: align Sun, observer and droplet light paths

A rainbow spanning two mountains is not a physical bridge one can approach. Read original light-path and field diagrams in ManYue, tracing illumination, droplet interaction and viewing direction. This is a paper exercise without Sun-viewing or bright-light experiments. The app supports zoom and return, not automatic weather analysis, angle measurement or proof of a complete optical model in a comic.

Separate ray side view from the visible arc

A places the Sun behind an observer with droplets ahead. B shows the observer’s primary arc and horizon. Name them separately: one explains ray relations, the other appearance, and a side-view drop is not the whole sky bow. Record location, viewpoint and exaggerated/non-scale construction. Missing Sun position stays unresolved rather than inferred from a coloured arc, and decorative bands need not depict actual weather.

Trace one schematic incoming-to-outgoing path

Trace entry refraction, internal reflection and exit refraction toward the observer. Use one internal reflection for the primary path, without counting its two refractions as two reflections. Colours bend differently; two representative rays can suffice rather than depict white light as seven pre-separated strings. This is one contributing path, not every incident ray’s sole route, and the drop is not a self-luminous coloured bulb.

Use the antisolar direction rather than mountain peaks

Establish the observer’s antisolar direction: the bow is centred there, not on two mountain summits. An optional ideal red outer edge near forty-two degrees is an angular scale from that direction, not ground distance or one exact value for all colours. Direction reasoning alone suffices. Solar altitude and the horizon limit the visible arc; seeing an upper arc from ground does not mean the optical circle can only be half-complete.

Keep primary and secondary colour orders separate

Label the primary outer red and inner violet by distance from the antisolar point, not screen-left/right. An optional secondary lies outside and uses two internal reflections with reversed colour order; duplicating a same-order band does not establish consistency. A primary-only source need not gain an invented secondary, and absence in a drawing does not imply impossibility. Other conditions affect brightness and width; painted brightness supplies no energy measurement or evidence of image editing.

Change observer without fixing the bow as an object

In C shift the observer sideways while retaining distant, approximately parallel illumination. The antisolar axis and contributing droplets depend on the new viewpoint; old arc ends are not fixed ground destinations. Two people may see bows without necessarily sharing exactly the same contributing droplets. This is geometry, not tracking a rainbow’s foot or an app location task. A fictional bridge belongs to its story convention; optical checking applies to a depiction presented as a natural bow.

Recheck arrows by diagram number in ManYue

Read original A/B/C as clear PDF or image pages through an existing local path. Inspect whole diagrams, then droplet turns and exit arrows. Distinguish incident, reflected and sight lines; crossed strokes do not create an internal mirror. Return from details to B’s colour order and A’s Sun-behind-observer relation. For unreadable labels use a clearer source rather than memory. Results cover this material, not device recognition of rainbow formation.

Check reflection counts and physical-arch assumptions

If a primary is assigned two reflections, label entry refraction, internal reflection and exit refraction separately. Colour-order errors call for checking primary/secondary identity and inner/outer definitions. Apparent alignment with mountains is a viewing relation, not a reachable pillar. Without droplet sizes and spectral data, retain schematic limits rather than infer actual weather. Share original diagrams and legends without claiming field observations or substituting the lesson for weather data.

Reopen and explain one path and viewpoint

Reopen and trace A from entry to exit, then explain B’s outer-red/inner-violet primary and antisolar direction. If C exists, explain viewpoint dependence. Retain action types, primary/secondary reflection differences and non-scale scope, not merely a coloured band. A bookmark locates the page without automatically validating optics. Reassess changed viewpoints, Sun position or fictional conventions, separating depicted facts, ideal model and unavailable environmental parameters.

Related guides and sources

ManYue: Read shadows in multi-light scenes before judging consistency; ManYue visual-scale checks: reference conditions for size and distance.

Checked on November 15, 2026: Apple public information lists ManYue 2.0.5, requiring iOS / iPadOS 15.0 or later. See the official App Store for published capabilities; verify controls in the installed version.

Method reference: NOAA NESDIS: rainbow formation and observer position. Materials and numbers are original exercises. Record external reports, paper reasoning and actual reading observations separately, without inventing missing conditions. Sources do not establish new automatic analysis by the app. No step-by-step physical-device, private-server or all-output-environment testing is claimed.