Zodiacal Light in Brittany

In this starryscape image of the beginning of Autumn the cone shape zodiacal light and the Milky Way appear in early morning sky of Brittany, France. The photographer used a star filter for the cross effect on the brighter stars. The brightest at the horizon is planet Venus. Made by the sunlight reflection from dust particles in solar system plane, the zodiacal light is an unusual triangle of light visible along the ecliptic before dawn and after dusk under dark skies, specially in pre-dawn sky of late Summer and early Autumn and just after dusk in late winter and early spring (considered for northern hemisphere and opposite for the southern viewers). Zodiacal light is so bright at those mentioned time of year because the dust band is oriented nearly vertical at sunrise or sunset, so that the thick air near the horizon does not block it out. As noted by the photographer “The day after the equinox was very clear, an opportunity to catch the zodiacal light in the pre-dawn sky. So, I woke up early and drove to Mont Saint Michel de Brasparts, a small mountain (381 m high) but almost the “top of the World” in the plains of Brittany! The chapel atop the mountain is a 17th century monument.” © Laurent Laveder