Patrick wrote:

What is the building with the green dome?

Shriner's Hospital at the corner of 11th Ave and Virgina.  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1275+N+Virginia+... Joe asked:

I know about Alexander's Ragtime Band, but not Alexander's dark band .... What is it? The views are excellent! -- Joe

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/adband.htm "The sky between the primary and secondary bows is noticeably darker than elsewhere. Alexander of Aphrodisias first described the effect in 200 AD and it now carries his name. Light rays undergoing a single reflection in raindrops form the primary rainbow or brighten the sky inside it. Rays reflected twiceare deviated to form the secondary bow or brighten the sky outside. Raindrops along lines of sight between the two bows cannot send light to your eye and so the sky is darker there."  From Les Cowley's _Atmospheric Optics_ website. Wikipedia Entry on Alexander's Band http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander's_band  (Note the three light-ray traces for the primary and secondary rainbows traveling through a spherical raindrop at the right-hand corner of the page.) My pictures where taken with a cheap $50 point and shoot that I carry in the truck.  My pictures are not well focused like Cowley's great images that also show the dramatic detail in background clouds. It was a very dramatic afternoon and evening with the monsoon down pour.  There were many photos of this rainbow on the 10pm local newsshows. I have been trying to get a good Alexander's Band picture for a number of years.   With the drought pattern for the last few years I haven't been too successful.  Now with this wet weather pattern year, things came together in terms of a bright primary and secondary rainbow that persisted for 15 minutes, and I finally got a good image.  To the naked eye, the dark band is not that distinct. The effect really shows up in the raw camera image and a little mid-range filter post-processing makes Alexander's dark band pop out in the final posted version.   I saw a bunch of reservations for all the scopes at SPOC last night but was too tired to drive out.  Since things cleared out between 10pm and 11:30pm, I hope everyone had a good time. - Kurt