This Might be the Most Perfectly Timed and Magical Cat Photo on the Internet
One Reddit user managed to capture what looks like a perfect moment: a fluffy gray cat stretched across a carpet, completely bathed in a perfect rainbow. The photo was posted in the r/aww community under the caption “I found what was at the end of a rainbow…I was not disappointed 🥰.” The photo quickly took off with more than 42,000 upvotes.
At first sight, it is easy to confuse it with a piece of digital art or a photoshopped fantasy. The cat’s fur glows in bands of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, as if it’s being painted by light itself. But as the poster later explained, sunlight had bounced off a fish tank at just the right angle, scattering a rainbow across the carpet and the cat. It was a moment of perfect timing, caught by chance.
The Nyan Cat in Real-Life
Image via Reddit/meggiemoo42
One user nicknamed it the real Nyan Cat, a nod to the old meme of a Pop-Tart cat flying through space with a rainbow trail. Others said it looked like something out of Power Rangers, Sonic, or even Care Bears.
It’s rare for a casual photo to catch so much attention. The cat, wide-eyed and a little tense, sits in a wash of color that feels almost unreal. Some viewers laughed that it looked like it was tasting the rainbow, or stuck inside a prism.
Pop-Tarts to Pop Culture
The Nyan Cat comparison wasn’t random. Back in April 2011, artist Christopher Torres created a pixelated cat with a Pop-Tart body flying through space, set to the catchy Japanese song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” The endless loop of rainbows and meows became one of the internet’s earliest viral sensations.
Ever since, it’s been turned into games, memes, remixes, and even sold as an NFT years later. So when this real-life rainbow cat appeared, it instantly triggered a wave of nostalgia for anyone who remembered those early meme-filled days.
What made the Reddit post special is that it didn’t try too hard. It wasn’t a staged photo or part of a marketing stunt. It was just one of those moments when timing and a bit of household sunlight lined up perfectly.