Iridescent clouds—sometimes called rainbow clouds—are a rare optical phenomenon where sunlight or moonlight scatters through tiny, uniform water droplets or ice crystals, creating shimmering bands of pink, green, blue, and violet across thin cloud layers. Unlike rainbows formed by refraction, these displays emerge through diffraction, bending and blending light into soft, pastel hues. Most often seen in cirrocumulus, altostratus, or lenticular clouds just after sunrise or before sunset, they off

Rare phenomenon: Rainbow cloud appears in New Jersey sky

Rare rainbow cloud phenomenon dazzles in skies over Indonesia