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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:05 am
by APOD Robot
Image 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.

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:18 am
by Ann

Yeah, that's a fine APOD! :D

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

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 12:30 pm
by 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?

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 3:32 pm
by Chris Peterson
Bruce_G wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 12:30 pm
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.

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:01 pm
by Fred the Cat
Chris Peterson wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 3:32 pm
Bruce_G wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 12:30 pm
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! :clap:

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

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:04 pm
by orin stepanek
DuelingBands_Dai_960_annotated.jpg
My vote goes for the Milky Way; but the Zodiac Light has an interesting story! 8-) :lol2:

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:13 pm
by Chris Peterson
Fred the Cat wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:01 pm Let’s keep “dueling bands” - out of our world except for polite disagreements. :thumb_up:
And concerts.

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

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 7:15 pm
by neufer
Chris Peterson wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:13 pm
Fred the Cat wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:01 pm
Let’s keep “dueling bands” - out of our world except for polite disagreements. :thumb_up:
And concerts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light wrote:
<<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.>>