APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

[APOD Robot]

Zodiacal Light before Dawn

Explanation: You might not guess it, but sunrise was still hours away when this nightscape was taken, a view along the eastern horizon from a remote location in Chile's Atacama desert. Stretching high into the otherwise dark, starry sky the unusually bright conical glow is sunlight though, scattered by dust along the solar system's ecliptic plane. Known as Zodiacal light, the apparition is also nicknamed the "false dawn". Near center, bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster seem immersed in the Zodiacal light, with Orion toward the right edge of the frame. Reddish emission from NGC 1499, the California Nebula, can also be seen through the tinge of airglow along the horizon. Sliding your cursor over the picture (or following this link) will label the sky over this future site of the Giant Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[Beyond]

Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me!

[starsurfer]

That looks amazing, the difference dark skies make! In the labeled version, I don't particularly like the lines for Orion. Chile is one of the best places for astronomy in the world, there should be an amateur remote observatory there!

[Indigo_Sunrise]

I would love to be somewhere dark enough to see the zodiacal light. Beautiful image!
And seeing images from the southern hemisphere mixes me up sometimes, as they're 'upside down' compared to what I'm used to seeing!

[Cousin Ricky]

I've never seen Orion outlined like that.

Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me!

Having lived in Ohio and New England, I'm sure I can tolerate the cold. I'll hate every minute of it (unless there's a ski lift up there—doubtful in a place that's so dry), but I can tolerate it.

However, having visited the nearby Bolivian Altiplano, I'm not so sure about the lack of oxygen.

[FloridaMike]

Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me!

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

How amusing that it takes a dark sky to light it up. Darn light pollution!! Bad enough here on Earth and then the rest of the solar system starts pitching in. That had to be confusing to our ancestors when it was visible to all. How many cave people got up too early and headed off to hunt and gather? Guess that's why there's so many of us. You know what they say – early to rise, early to … Well close enough.

[Chris Peterson]

How amusing that it takes a dark sky to light it up. Darn light pollution!! Bad enough here on Earth and then the rest of the solar system starts pitching in. That had to be confusing to our ancestors when it was visible to all. How many cave people got up too early and headed off to hunt and gather? Guess that's why there's so many of us. You know what they say – early to rise, early to … Well close enough.

Most people in the world still live quite close to dark skies- skies that are primarily limited by the sky background and not by artificial lighting. You probably don't have to drive far to get to a place where you can easily see the zodiacal light.

[DavidLeodis]

I was amused to find that for an APOD about Zodiacal Light that the 'Zodiacal light' link in the explanation seems to be dead (well it currently is on my connection and I've tried several times on and off) . All the other links are working fine.

[Cousin Ricky]

I was amused to find that for an APOD about Zodiacal Light that the 'Zodiacal light' link in the explanation seems to be dead (well it currently is on my connection and I've tried several times on and off) . All the other links are working fine.

Remove the fap/ from the URL and it just points back to itself. (I'm trying to say that with a straight face. )

[bystander]

I was amused to find that for an APOD about Zodiacal Light that the 'Zodiacal light' link in the explanation seems to be dead (well it currently is on my connection and I've tried several times on and off) . All the other links are working fine.

Remove the fap/ from the URL and it just points back to itself. (I'm trying to say that with a straight face. )

A better link might be http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070925.html or perhaps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light

[objetivonocturno]

Beautiful!!