Zodiacal Light and the Milky Way

From the photographer: “During September in the Northern Hemisphere—when the moon is nowhere around—early risers under clear, dark skies can see both the Milky Way and the zodiacal light, the dusty disk of our solar system that is back lit by the sun. Here, looking east over Southern California’s Anza-Borrego Desert during the first glimmers of dawn on September 20, 2012, the winter Milky Way appears (to the upper right), along with the zodiacal light streaming upward from the lower center. The bright “star” in the zodiacal light is Venus.”