zodiacal light


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.

Origin of zodiacal light

1
First recorded in 1725–35

Words 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

  • The zodiacal light is probably identical with the meteor called trabes by Pliny and Seneca.

    Meteoric astronomy: | Daniel Kirkwood
  • The 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

zodiacal light

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

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

zodiacal light

[ zō-dīə-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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