--- title: Quadruple Rainbow Photo Shows 2 Double Rainbows description: The photo of a quadruple rainbow taken by Amanda Curtis CEO of Nineteenth Amendment at the Glen Cove LIRR station in Long Island New York canonical: https://time.com/3830200/quadruple-rainbow-photo/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T21:23:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:32.711Z og:title: Here's What a 'Quadruple Rainbow' Looks Like og:description: Based on a pic by a woman who says she saw two double rainbows in Glen Cove, NY og:url: https://time.com/3830200/quadruple-rainbow-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57cf2ba4596c8944/6987ec2d06f2c12cc0337d79/quadruple-rainbow.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: quadruple-rainbow og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What a 'Quadruple Rainbow' Looks Like twitter:description: Based on a pic by a woman who says she saw two double rainbows in Glen Cove, NY twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57cf2ba4596c8944/6987ec2d06f2c12cc0337d79/quadruple-rainbow.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What a 'Quadruple Rainbow' Looks Like > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=2004789b-a299-4a83-8def-c30d05d519af&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Science Of Awesome [Watch (HLS stream): The Science Of Awesome](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tmGTDYff.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2013-12-03. The Science Of Awesome_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 21, 2015 9:23 PM UTC  Quadruple rainbow spotted at the LIRR station in Glen Cove, N.Y. on April 21, 2015. Quadruple rainbow spotted at the LIRR station in Glen Cove, N.Y. on April 21, 2015. Amanda Curtis, CEO of 19th Amendment  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 21, 2015 9:23 PM UTC Amanda Curtis, CEO of Nineteenth Amendment, a company that showcases works by emerging fashion designers, [tweeted](https://twitter.com/amanda%5Fcurtis/status/590469469467729920) a photo of what appears to be two double rainbows that she says she saw from the Long Island Rail Road station in Glen Cove, N.Y. Spotting this rare condition has seemed less like chasing rainbows since a German rainbow hunter’s photos of “triple” and “quadruple” rainbows appeared in the scientific journal _Applied Optics_. Raymond Lee, a professor of meteorology at the U.S. Naval Academy, argues the phenomenon is more likely to be seen when there are a lot of dark clouds in the background or when rain drops of the same size are falling — basically “absolutely pouring” conditions, [_National Geographic_](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/pictures/111007-first-quadruple-rainbow-triple-science-optics/) reports. ### Aurora Borealis 1953  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The aurora borealis, a.k.a., the northern lights, northern Canada, 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE photographer J.R. Eyerman on assignment in Canada, keeping his camera operable in the freezing cold while photographing the Northern Lights in 1953. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ## Transcript [00:02] >>Feelings of awe have always been associated with [00:05] feelings of spirituality or religion. It's hard [00:09] to be an atheist when you're looking at the Grand [00:11] Canyon. One of the reasons it's [00:15] so powerfully spiritual is because, first of all, it makes [00:19] us feel small. And second of all, it makes us question [00:22] how the thing that's making us feel that way came to [00:26] be in the first place. A new [00:30] study in psychological science tried to apply the [00:33] scientific method to that very unscientific phenomenon [00:37] and found a creative way to do it. All [00:41] of the subjects in the study were shown one of four [00:44] videos. The first was a 1959 interview with [00:48] Mike Wallace. [00:49] >>There are very few us then in this world, by your [00:52] standards, who are worthy of love. [00:55] >>Unfortunately, yes. [00:56] >>The second was a nature show with images and [00:59] footage of animals behaving in funny or silly ways. The [01:06] third were all inspiring scenes of nature from a BBC [01:10] documentary and the last were surreal [01:15] images of, say, waterfalls flowing down city streets. [01:19] Consistently subjects who would see the inspiring or [01:23] surreal videos had a greater sense of a universe that [01:26] unfolds according to a master plan and had a lower [01:30] tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. As [01:36] a control, subjects were also asked to look at a series [01:40] of randomly generated ones and twos and to decide [01:44] on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely it was that the [01:47] numbers have been organized either randomly by a [01:50] computer or intentionally by a human being. Once [01:55] again, people who had experienced awe were likelier [01:59] to conclude that a human being had organized the [02:01] numbers, the sense again being that there must be [02:04] some designer behind the plan. The [02:09] question naturally arises of course that if seen things [02:12] that cause you to experience awe make you seek [02:15] answers, couldn't looking at space simply make you [02:18] wanna be an astronomer who are looking at the Grand [02:20] Canyon make you want to be a geologist? And [02:24] the answer is maybe, but the scientists aren't so sure. [02:28] The sense of uncertainty awe elicits, they believe, [02:32] simply is not satisfied by the laws of the universe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3830200/quadruple-rainbow-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3830200/quadruple-rainbow-photo/"},"headline":"Here's What a 'Quadruple Rainbow' Looks Like","datePublished":"2015-04-21T21:23:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:32.711Z","description":"Seen from a rail station in New York","url":"https://time.com/3830200/quadruple-rainbow-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57cf2ba4596c8944/6987ec2d06f2c12cc0337d79/quadruple-rainbow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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