zodiacal light
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.
Origin of zodiacal light
1Words Nearby zodiacal light
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use zodiacal light in a sentence
Not only can’t it directly resolve early galaxies, it can’t even detect their light due to the diffuse glow of “zodiacal light.”
How Many Galaxies Are in the Universe? A New Answer From the Darkest Sky Ever Observed | Jason Dorrier | January 15, 2021 | Singularity HubThe New Horizons spacecraft has now escaped the domain of zodiacal light and is gazing at the darkest sky yet imaged.
How Many Galaxies Are in the Universe? A New Answer From the Darkest Sky Ever Observed | Jason Dorrier | January 15, 2021 | Singularity HubThe nights have hitherto been clear, and the zodiacal light is always brilliant.
Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance of the evening star.
The Island of Doctor Moreau | H. G. WellsThe zodiacal light is well worth observing at this season of the year.
A Field Book of the Stars | William Tyler Olcott
The zodiacal light is probably identical with the meteor called trabes by Pliny and Seneca.
Meteoric astronomy: | Daniel KirkwoodThe zodiacal light is probably a dense meteoric ring, or rather, perhaps, a number of rings.
Meteoric astronomy: | Daniel Kirkwood
British Dictionary definitions for zodiacal light
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for zodiacal light
[ zō-dī′ə-kəl ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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