APOD: Dueling Bands in the Night (2022 Mar 01)

[APOD Robot]

Dueling Bands in the Night

Explanation: What are these two bands in the sky? The more commonly seen band is the one on the right and is the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. Our Sun orbits in the disk of this spiral galaxy, so that from inside, this disk appears as a band of comparable brightness all the way around the sky. The Milky Way band can also be seen all year -- if out away from city lights. The less commonly seem band, on the left, is zodiacal light -- sunlight reflected from dust orbiting the Sun in our Solar System. Zodiacal light is brightest near the Sun and so is best seen just before sunrise or just after sunset. On some evenings in the north, particularly during the months of March and April, this ribbon of zodiacal light can appear quite prominent after sunset. It was determined only this century that zodiacal dust was mostly expelled by comets that have passed near Jupiter. Only on certain times of the year will the two bands be seen side by side, in parts of the sky, like this. The featured image, including the Andromeda galaxy and a meteor, was captured in late January over a frozen lake in Kanding, Sichuan, China.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[Ann]

Dueling Bands in the Night. Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)

---

The starry sky and the Milky Way reflected in the great salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, in Bolivia. Photo: I don't know.

---

Yeah, that's a fine APOD!

But because it was taken from a frozen lake, I couldn't help thinking of photos of the Milky Way and the starry sky taken from the great salt flat in Bolivia, Salar de Uyuni, when there is rain or moisture on that salt flat so that it turns into a huge reflective mirror.

Just a thought!

Ann

[Bruce_G]

It was determined only this century that zodiacal dust was mostly expelled by comets that have passed near Jupiter.

What about the Mars origin theory supported by Juno data?

[Chris Peterson]

It was determined only this century that zodiacal dust was mostly expelled by comets that have passed near Jupiter.

What about the Mars origin theory supported by Juno data?

Indeed, the evidence now heavily favors that explanation for the creation of the majority of the interplanetary dust responsible for producing the zodiacal light. Not comets.

[Fred the Cat]

It was determined only this century that zodiacal dust was mostly expelled by comets that have passed near Jupiter.

What about the Mars origin theory supported by Juno data?

Indeed, the evidence now heavily favors that explanation for the creation of the majority of the interplanetary dust responsible for producing the zodiacal light. Not comets.

Interesting observation but I’ll comment.

I like how APOD demonstrates, through images, the unified efforts of an entire world of those fascinated in the night sky regardless of their ethnicity or political stratification. NASA’s editorial board for this site day in, day out never appears to discriminate. Kudos to Jeff and those who choose likewise!

Let’s keep “dueling bands” - out of our world except for polite disagreements.

[orin stepanek]

My vote goes for the Milky Way; but the Zodiac Light has an interesting story!

[Chris Peterson]

Let’s keep “dueling bands” - out of our world except for polite disagreements. :thumb_up:

And concerts.

[neufer]

Let’s keep “dueling bands” - out of our world except for polite disagreements.

And concerts.

<<In 2007, Brian May, lead guitarist with the band Queen, completed his thesis, A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, thirty-six years after abandoning it to pursue a career in music. He was able to submit it only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic undertaken during the intervening years. May describes the subject as being one that became "trendy" again in the 2000s.>>