The Window, zodiacal light and setting moon. I was fortunate to travel with my astronomy group to one of the darkest night skies of U.S., the Big Bend National Park on the Texas-Mexico border. It rates 1-2 on a Bortle scale for night skies. In the photo, you’ll see a white light pyramid glowing at an angle from the right slope of the mountain wall’s silhouette and beaming upward. This light pyramid is the zodiacal light. The 2-day-old 3 percent crescent moon was setting between the notch formed by Carter and Vernon Bailey Peaks of the Chisos Mountain range. This view is known as the Window. The moon is glowing orange due to the atmospheric scattering. Just to the right of the zodiacal light is the constellation Pleiades.
I’d never seen this light pyramid before this trip, so this trip will always be the one I’ll remember just for witnessing this amazing phenomenon!
Thank you, Gowri!
Bottom line: The Window, zodiacal light and a setting moon at the Window in Big Bend, March 2018.
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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