On the night sky, we can see beautiful winter constellations like Orion, Gemini, or Perseus. From our solar system, there are the bright planets such as Jupiter, Mars, and the brightest Venus in the west.
But if you look towards the west just after sunset, under a dark sky, you'll see not only Venus but also a faint light cone pointing towards the Pleiades. This is the zodiacal light.
A large amount of dust and ice particles, remnants of comet disintegration and asteroid collisions, concentrates near the Sun. These particles form a thin disk, which from Earth, we see as a faint glowing band along the ecliptic plane.
Are you interested in similar astronomical phenomena that we can observe even without any equipment? 🙂



Photographed on February 22, 2025, Kohútka, Slovakia

Canon 6Dmod + Sigma 35mm, f1.4@f2.8, ISO 3200, 13 sec
Panorama