Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 March 11
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                           Zodiacal Light and Mars
               Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Joshua Rhoades

   Explanation: Just after sunset on March 7, a faint band of light still
   reaches above the western horizon in this serene, [5]rural Illinois,
   night skyscape. Taken from an old farmstead, the luminous glow is
   zodiacal light, prominent in the west after sunset during planet
   Earth's northern hemisphere spring. On that clear evening the band of
   zodiacal light seems to engulf bright yellowish Mars and the Pleiades
   star cluster. Their close [6]conjunction is in the starry sky above the
   old barn's roof. Zodiacal light is sunlight scattered by interplanetary
   dust particles that lie near the Solar System's ecliptic plane. Of
   course all the Solar System's planets orbit near the [7]plane of the
   ecliptic, within the band of zodiacal light. But zodiacal light and
   Mars may have a deeper connection. A recent [8]analysis of
   [9]serendipitous detections of interplanetary dust by the Juno
   spacecraft during its Earth to [10]Jupiter voyage suggest Mars is the
   likely source of the dust that produces zodiacal light.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC
                           & [31]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/ZodiacalLightBarn.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.joshuarhoadesphotography.com/
   5. https://www.facebook.com/midwesternlightchaser/photos/a.2014842641878022/4563349223694005/?type=3&theater
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210304.html
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170225.html
   8. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020JE006509
   9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/serendipitous-juno-spacecraft-detections-shatter-ideas-about-origin-of-zodiacal-light
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201123.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210310.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210311
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210312.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. http://www.mtu.edu/