Sheffield loses record for world's longest rainbow after NINE HOUR display in Taiwan

A continuous rainbow was spotted over the capital city Taipei last week - beating a six hour display which was witnessed in Sheffield two decades ago.

It means that the city's 23-year record has been lost.

Meteorology experts claimed the Taiwan bow was visible from 7am to 4pm.

The spectacular natural phenomenon was observed by Professor Kun-Hsuan Chou, who works at the Department of Atmospheric Science of Chinese Culture University in Taipei city.

Professor Chou said: 'This was a gift from the sky.

'I was shaking when I observed a six-hour rainbow, but this was a miracle [to me], being able to capture a rainbow with such long duration.'

Professor Chou first recorded a rainbow which appeared in the sky for over six hours on November 27.

But three days later, he and a colleague observed the record-breaking nine-hour rainbow near the university.

The Sheffield rainbow was said to be seen over the city for six hours continuously on 14 March 1994 from 9am to 3pm.

There's little documentation out there, but the rainbow was apparently observed from the University of Sheffield for most of the day.

Rainbows are formed through reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc.

Rainbows can be full circles; however, the average observer sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground.

In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc.