On a sunny day, if you stand with the Sun at your back and look at the ground, the shadow of your head will align with the antisolar point.
- The antisolar point is the position directly opposite the Sun, around which the arcs of a rainbow appear. An imaginary straight line can always be drawn that passes through the Sun, the eyes of an observer, and the antisolar point, which is the geometric centre of a rainbow.
- This concept corresponds with what an observer sees in real life: the idea that a rainbow has a center. From a side view, the centre of a rainbow is called the antisolar point, so named because it is opposite the Sun relative to the observer’s position.
- Unless observed from the air, the antisolar point is always below the horizon. Both primary and secondary rainbows share the same antisolar point, as do higher-order bows, such as fifth and sixth-order rainbows.