Zodiacal Light Vs. Milky Way
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Daniel López
Ghostly Zodiacal
light, featured
near
the center
of this remarkable panorama, is produced as sunlight is
scattered by dust in the Solar System's
ecliptic plane.
In the weeks surrounding the March
equinox (today at 1732
UT)
Zodiacal light is more prominent after sunset in the
northern hemisphere, and before sunrise in the south, when
the ecliptic makes a steep angle with the horizon.
In the picture, the narrow triangle of Zodiacal light extends
above the western horizon and seems to end at the lovely
Pleiades star cluster.
Arcing above the Pleiades are stars and nebulae
along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Recorded on March 10 from
Teide National Park on
the island of Tenerife, the vista is
composed of 4 separate pictures spanning over 180 degrees.