A Fog Bow Over Ocean Beach . ... What is being seen is a fogbow , a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. ... The fogbow 's relative lack of colors are caused by the relatively smaller water drops . The drops active above are so small that the quantum mechanical wavelength of light becomes important and smears out colors that would be created by larger rainbow water drops acting like small prisms reflecting sunlight. ... NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...