zodiacal light

American  

noun

1. a luminous tract in the sky, seen in the west after sunset or in the east before sunrise and thought to be the light reflected from a cloud of meteoric matter revolving round the sun.

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zodiacal light British  

noun

1. a very faint cone of light in the sky, visible in the east just before sunrise and in the west just after sunset. It is probably due to the reflection of sunlight from cosmic dust in the plane of the ecliptic

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zodiacal light Scientific  

/ zō-dī′ə-kəl /

1. A faint hazy cone of light, often visible in the west just after sunset or in the east just before sunrise, and elongated in the direction of the ecliptic on each side of the Sun. It is apparently caused by the reflection of sunlight from meteoric particles in the plane of the ecliptic.

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Etymology

Origin of zodiacal light

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

Under especially dark skies, sunlight scattered by this dust can be seen shortly after sunset or before sunrise as a faint glow called zodiacal light.

From Science Daily • Dec. 6, 2025

Still, severe breakdown has reduced that dust in size so much that it now scatters sunlight efficiently, causing the faint glow in the night sky known as the "zodiacal light."

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024

The wartime blackout was actually a help: it allowed the captain's eyes to adjust to darkness, the better to observe the zodiacal light.

From Time Magazine Archive

He snapped numerous photographs with special cameras to study the halolike zodiacal light, a mysterious night airglow layer, and the horizon itself.

From Time Magazine Archive

The zodiacal light is a peculiar brightness, pyramidal or wedge-like in form, seen at certain periods of the year in the eastern or western sky, before sunrise and after sunset.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 449 Volume 18, New Series, August 7, 1852 by Chambers, Robert