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image credit & license: Ruslan Merzlyakov (RMS Photography)



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 has recently been determined 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

here the two streaks of light appear like the continuation of the banks of the Liver River into the sky

the featured panorama of consecutive exposures was recorded about three weeks ago in North Jutland, Denmark




























in apod.nasa.gov/apod