A stunning photo captured rare 'rainbow' vapour trails behind a plane as it came to land at Manchester Airport. The snap, taken from a photographer's back garden in Cheshire, show the Emirates airliner's technicolour trails illuminating the sky in dazzling shades.
Scientists from NASA say ice crystals form when cold air condenses around particles from the plane’s exhaust. The sunlight catching these crystals is reflected back at a range of angles leading to a stunning spread of colours across the light spectrum.
But the height of the plane and angle of the viewer has to be just right for the effect to be visible, making it a rare sight. As the Emirates Airbus A380 was turning onto its final approach into Manchester, photographer Iain Knox shot the snap on his Canon 5D4.
He said: "The atmospheric conditions were just perfect with saturated air at the aircraft’s level, plus strong sun backlighting the condensation cloud and causing the astonishing rainbow effect.
"I’ve occasionally seen this off aircraft wings, but never in such a huge cloud."
