APOD: 2020 March 9 - Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Chile

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Chilé." See the apparent band of light connecting the horizon to the Milky Way (not to mention the Large Magellanic Cloud at the upper left)? That is zodiacal light. Zodiacal light is produced by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the Solar System known as cosmic dust. Most of this material is located near the plane of the Solar System, so zodiacal light is best seen along the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the mean plane of the apparent path in the Earth's sky that the Sun follows over the course of one year; This image was taken in July 2019 over Chilé. During the next two months in northern latitudes, zodiacal light can appear quite prominently after sunset.