See the night sky glow with ghostly zodiac light this month
For a few weeks beginning Thursday, March 9, skywatchers have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a ghostly pyramid of celestial light that illuminates the night sky above Earth.
This phenomenon, known as zodiacal light, is the result of sunlight reflecting off dust particles between the sun And Earth. Catching the zodiac light will take some planning. It is so faint that it can only be seen in dark skies clear of both man-made and natural light pollution. If you want to find a dark sky site near you, there are plenty. dark sky maps available online. Additionally, it is only visible for about 90 minutes starting about 90 minutes after sunset, just after evening twilight in the west has disappeared.
Under these circumstances, skywatchers should be able to spot a wedge of light extending westward from the horizon and following an imaginary eastward line in the sky called “elliptical” – the apparent trajectory that the sun traces in the sky of the Earth.
Related: Ghostly glow in alien skies: ‘Zodiacal light’ possibly spotted on 3 exoplanets
Zodiacal light can be tracked visually along the ecliptic starting at about 30 degrees from the sun to about 90 degrees from the star.
Luckily, the zodiac light is visible from Thursday, March 9 through March 21, so there’s plenty of time to plan to catch it. Also during this time, two of Earth’s brightest planets, VenusAnd Jupiter are in the west after sunset, It means there is a chance to catch these two worlds framed in this celestial light.
As the name suggests, the celestial glow of zodiacal light appears in the ring of constellations known as the zodiac also found along the elliptical. But, there is of course nothing supernatural or “otherworldly” about this glow and its manifestation is quite simple to explain.
The zodiacal light is believed to come from debris left in the solar system of the Jupiter family of comets. These icy bodies are short-period comets whose orbits around the sun last less than 20 years. They are named after the gas giant because it is the gravitational influence of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, that defines their orbits.
As these comets pass near the sun, radiation from our star heats them and causes them to release dust and ice particles which then linger around the sun. This material is commonly seen in the characteristic “tails” that comets grow and the glow around them, known as a coma. Another source of dust can be collisions between asteroids located in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and March.
These dust grains propagate around the sun in the shape of a flat disk that slowly revolves around the star. It shares the same plane as the inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Ranging in size from about a millimeter to a micron (one ten-thousandth of a centimeter), these particles reflect sunlight falling on them, creating the zodiacal glow.
If you miss the zodiacal light in those spring evenings, the fall months bring in another opportunity to catch it in the Northern Hemisphere. This will require heading to an area with dark skies before sunrise as this pyramid of light is best seen before dawn from late August to early November.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the zodiacal light glow, our guide to the best binoculars are a great starting point. Low magnification wide angle binoculars could be a great tool to see the zodiacal light. If you want to zoom in on smaller objects in the night sky, check out our guide for the best telescopes.
And if you’re looking to snap photos of this night sky phenomenon in general, check out our guide to How to photograph the moonas well as our best cameras for astrophotography And best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you take the zodiac light and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, and name and location to [email protected]
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