﻿ 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. 2022 March 1 [2]The featured image shows a nightscape over China featuring bands of zodiacal light, on the left, and the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, on the right. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Dueling Bands in the Night Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Jeff Dai ([4]TWAN) Explanation: 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 [5]our Milky Way galaxy. Our [6]Sun orbits in the disk of this [7]spiral galaxy, so that from inside, this disk [8]appears as a band of comparable brightness all the way around the sky. The [9]Milky Way band can also be seen all year -- if out [10]away from [11]city lights. The less commonly seem band, on the left, is [12]zodiacal light -- sunlight reflected from dust orbiting the Sun in our Solar System. [13]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 [14]zodiacal light can appear quite prominent after sunset. It was [15]determined only this century that zodiacal dust was mostly expelled by comets that have passed [16]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. The [17]featured image, including the [18]Andromeda galaxy and a meteor, was captured in late January over a frozen lake in [19]Kanding, [20]Sichuan, [21]China. Tomorrow's picture: it came from the sun __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/DuelingBands_Dai_2000.jpg 3. http://www.twanight.org/Dai 4. http://www.twanight.org/ 5. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/milkyway1.html 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170917.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170328.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110710.html 10. https://petapixel.com/2017/02/09/light-pollution-changes-view-orion-constellation/ 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200408.html 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070925.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040825.html 15. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010ApJ...713..816N/abstract 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180226.html 17. https://twanight.org/gallery/dueling-lights/ 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220119.html 19. https://youtu.be/l0K7t1VcMtU 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan 21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220228.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220301 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220302.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. http://www.mtu.edu/