The Rainbow Sky Phenomenon in Indonesia
These days, a fascinating spectacle of rainbow clouds has been trending on Indonesian social media!
No filters, no editing—just a real ‘rainbow cloud’ appearing in the sky.
On May 1, 2026, in Jonggol, Bogor, Indonesia, many looked up to see colorful clouds resembling the aurora—shades of pink, turquoise, lavender, and gold blending softly yet vividly.
This isn’t a myth but a relatively rare atmospheric phenomenon: iridescent clouds.
When sunlight passes through a cloud containing a large number of uniformly tiny water droplets or ice crystals, the light undergoes diffraction, splitting into different wavelengths of color, much like the iridescence on the surface of a soap bubble. Unlike a typical rainbow, it doesn’t necessarily form an arc but often appears as irregular patches of color, blooming along the edges of clouds.
This celestial wonder lasted only briefly but quickly ignited Indonesian social platforms. From Twitter to TikTok and Instagram, comments flooded in about being ‘healed by the sky’—amid busy days, such an unexpected encounter with nature’s beauty felt even more moving.
If you happened to look up that day, you surely wouldn’t have been able to tear your eyes away.
(Quick note: While iridescent clouds differ slightly in formation from ‘circumhorizontal arcs’ or ‘colorful clouds,’ they are equally among the most enchanting optical phenomena visible during daylight hours.)
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