APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5599
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am

APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by APOD Robot » Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:09 am

Image 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]

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Beyond » Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:20 am

Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me!
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5409
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by starsurfer » Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:22 am

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! :D

User avatar
Indigo_Sunrise
Science Officer
Posts: 440
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:40 pm
Location: Md

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Indigo_Sunrise » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:45 am

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!

8-)
Forget the box, just get outside.

User avatar
Cousin Ricky
Science Officer
Posts: 468
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:08 pm
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (+18.3, -64.9)

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:15 am

I've never seen Orion outlined like that.
Beyond wrote: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
Science Officer
Posts: 413
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 2:21 pm
Location: Florida, USA

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by FloridaMike » Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:23 pm

:lol2:
Beyond wrote:Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me!
Certainty is an emotion. So follow your spindle neurons.

User avatar
Ron-Astro Pharmacist
Resistored Fizzacist
Posts: 889
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:34 pm
AKA: Fred
Location: Idaho USA

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:11 pm

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.
Make Mars not Wars

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18607
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:13 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote: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.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
DavidLeodis
Perceptatron
Posts: 1169
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 1:00 pm

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by DavidLeodis » Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:37 pm

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) :!: :o. All the other links are working fine.

User avatar
Cousin Ricky
Science Officer
Posts: 468
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:08 pm
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (+18.3, -64.9)

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:06 pm

DavidLeodis wrote: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) :!: :o. 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. :shock: )

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21593
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by bystander » Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:21 pm

Cousin Ricky wrote:
DavidLeodis wrote: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) :!: :o. 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. :shock: )
A better link might be http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070925.html or perhaps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

objetivonocturno
Ensign
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:26 pm
Location: Spain

Re: APOD: Zodiacal Light before Dawn (2014 Sep 11)

Post by objetivonocturno » Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:42 am

Beautiful!!