ESOcast 82: Zodiacal Light

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is famed for its dark night skies, which can be enjoyed in their full glory thanks to the absence of light pollution. But even the darkest sky is not completely dark. Astronomers at ESO's observatories often encounter a natural light phenomenon above ESO’s telescopes known as the zodiacal light.
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Credit:
ESO.
Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada.
Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Petr Horálek, Rebecca Davies, David Nesvorný and Herbert Zodet.
Presented by: Joe Liske (Dr. J).
Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa.
Music: STAN DART (www.stan-dart.com) and Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com).
Footage and photos: ESO, L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, Y. Beletsky (LCO), S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard), Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org), C. Malin (christophmalin.com), Petr Horálek, Miloslav Druckmüller, Shadia Habbal, R. Wesson, Z. Bardon (bardon.cz), B. Tafreshi (twanight.org) and S. Brunier.
Directed by: Petr Horálek and Herbert Zodet.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

[@69cuervos]

Beautifully cool explanation ...being once for a while in the desert of Atacama , I can confirm this marvellous spectacle from the outer space ...!

[@simonchung9813]

Cool information. Thanks Dr. J and ESO!

[@ubergeraldine]

Kristian Birkeland was confident he had witnessed oscillations in the zodiacal light and went to Sudan in 1910 to study the phenomenon. Birkeland’s suspicion was that the pulsation in “the intensity and shape of the light … surely testifies to an electric origin …His conclusion, that the earth’s magnetic field affects both the path and the spread of electrically charged particles from the sun, and is therefore significant in the development of zodiacal light. Indeed, it would have to be akin to the pulsation which is sometimes seen in auroral lights and the oscillations in terrestrial magnetism.

[@mariadaluzmoutinho5701]

Que maravilha....Os efeitos fascinantes...Que bela partilha de informação, beleza e um fenómeno mui luminoso! Espantosamente absorta!! Simplesmente um espectáculo lindo!!!

[@Jcole000123]

Dr J Rules!!!

[@seaman83]

lovely

[@qrs_tuv1925]

wow magnificent

[@babybearkill1]

Where is the next ESOcast?

[@marleybutler4633]

How do you pronounce Zodiac

[@inspace9609]

US: /ˈzoʊ.dɪ.æk/

[@wakdoj]

Zodiac is zo-dee-ac. Zodiacal is zo-dye-a-cal.

[@tkkotbo.9284]

Fuck light pollution! 🤩

[@iambryaen]

Lol. What theorists say about sunlight at night. 😂

[@cutexspace4794]

Amazing, beautiful 👍👍👍

[@jojoo210]

Thanks for the effort and the precious information . Keep going 👍🏻

[@markholm7050]

Great video! Thanks.

[@NeyooxetuseiDreamer]

It must be the Magpie Bridge that the Ancient Chinese speak of. There are 1700 spots on earth that do this. Very little light pollution in the 1700s? Um, there was NONE, ZERO light pollution.