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
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: Jeff Dai (TWAN)

What are the two bands in the sky? The band on the right is the central band of the universe. Our Sun is in the disk of a spiral galaxy and it appears as a band of comparable brightness all the way around the sky. The band can be seen all year long if it's not in the city. The band on the left is zodiacal light, which reflects sunlight from the Sun in our Solar System. Zodiacal light is best seen just before sunrise or after sunset. During the months of March and April, this ribbon of zodiacal light can be seen after sunset. The zodiacal dust was mostly ejected by comets that passed near Jupiter. Only on certain times of the year will the two bands be seen side by side. The featured image was captured over a frozen lake in China in late January.

Tomorrow's picture: it came from the sun < | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.


Page 2

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 2
The featured image shows the Sun undergoing a large eruption in mid-Feburary where a large prominence is
visible.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Record Prominence Imaged by Solar Orbiter
Image Credit: Solar Orbiter, EUI Team, ESA & NASA; h/t: Bum-Suk Yeom

What has happened to our Sun? The largest prominence ever imaged together with a complete solar disk was produced last month. The sun-orbiting Solar Orbiter captured the record image in ultraviolet light. A quiescent solar prominence is a cloud of hot gas above the Sun's surface. The length of this solar prominence was larger than the diameter of the Sun. Hot gas may be expelled from the Solar System via a coronal mass ejection. Auroras may occur when a CME strikes the Earth. It was directed away from the Earth, but it did produce a CME. Although surely related to the Sun's changing magnetic field, the energy mechanism that creates and sustains a solar prominence remains a topic of research.

Tomorrow's picture: spiral galaxy NGC 2841

< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.