'It's a nice way to celebrate Earth Day': Woman takes rare picture of quadruple rainbow over New York

Amanda Curtis captured image while catching train to work

It is certainly a thing of beauty. And it is clear people cannot get enough of it.

Amanda Curtis, the CEO of a New York-based fashion company, took the opportunity presented by showers earlier this week to click an image that appears to show four stunning rainbows.

Ms Curtis initially thought she was photographing a double rainbow at Long Island’s Glen Cove. When she looked closer, she discovered she had captured something quite remarkable as she waiting to catch a train to work earlier this week.

Ms Curits posted her image on social media and before long the internet was reacting with awe, disbelief and wonder. In its own small way, it was a little bit like the gold/blue dress moment as people tried to work out quite how such a phenomenon was possible.

“Quadruple #Rainbow at #glencove ny @LIRR station Today will be 4 pots of #gold #lucky #chasetherainbow #aprilshowers,” she wrote on Twitter

Ms Curtis, 27, told The Independent that some people had expressed doubts about whether or not the image was genuine, but that expert voices soon stepped in both to authenticate both the image and the meteorological phenomenon.

"I have had lots of people thanking me for sharing it," she said.

"Of course I would share something so beautiful - that is what social media is for - but I think people were glad to just have something to brighten their day, even though that sounds like a cliche."

The Washington Post quoted Paul Neiman, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Observatory who said: "This is an outstanding example of a primary and secondary rainbow (relatively common) occurring together with their reflected-light counterparts (quite rare)."

Ms Curtis said she had experienced a moment of “awe” when she realised she was loooking at four rainbows and not two.

"It's also a nice way to celebrate Earth Day," she said.