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Credit & Copyright: Ruslan Merzlyakov
(astrorms)
Explanation:
What's causing that unusual ray of light extending from the horizon?
Dust orbiting the Sun.
At certain times of the year, a band of
sun-reflecting
dust from the inner
Solar System appears prominently after sunset or before sunrise and is called
zodiacal light.
The dust was emitted mostly from faint
Jupiter-family
comets and slowly spirals into the
Sun.
The featured HDR image, acquired in mid-February
from the
Sierra Nevada National Park in
Spain,
captures the glowing band of
zodiacal light going right in front of
the bright evening planets
Jupiter (upper) and
Venus (lower).
Emitted from well behind the
zodiacal light is a dark night sky that prominently
includes the
Pleiades star cluster.
Jupiter and Venus are
slowly switching places
in the
evening sky,
and just in the next few days nearing their
closest
angular approach.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: zodiacal light
Publications with words: zodiacal light
See also: