A Meteor and the Gegenschein
Explanation:
Is the night sky darkest in the direction
opposite the Sun?
No. In fact, a rarely discernable faint glow known as
the gegenschein (German for "counter glow") can be seen 180
degrees around from the Sun in an extremely
dark sky.
The gegenschein is sunlight back-scattered off small interplanetary
dust particles.
These dust particles are millimeter sized splinters from
asteroids and orbit in the
ecliptic plane of the planets.
Pictured here
from last March is one of the more spectacular pictures of
the gegenschein yet taken.
The deep exposure of an extremely dark sky over
Teide Observatory in
Spain's
Canary Islands shows
the gegenschein as part of extended
zodiacal light.
Notable background objects include a
bright
meteor (on the left),
the Big Dipper (top right), and
Polaris (far right).
The meteor nearly points
toward Mount Teide,
Spain's highest mountain, while the
Pyramid
solar laboratory is visible on the right.
During the day, a phenomenon like
the gegenschein called
the glory can
be seen in reflecting air or clouds opposite the
Sun from an
airplane.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
