Anatomy of the Zodiacal Light
Anatomy of the Zodiacal Light September Equinox is the best time to see the Zodiacal Light just before dawn, appropriately named as "False Dawn" Zodiacal Light looks like a hazy pyramid. It appears in the sky just before true dawn lights the sky. The zodiacal light is most visible before dawn in autumn because autumn is when the ecliptic stands nearly perpendicular to the horizon before dawn. This image was clicked on 21 September 2020. You'd say that - in this image the Zodiacal Light is not at all perpendicular to the horizon, that's because this image was shot from a plane window, when it was flying at a northerly route from Delhi to Washington at Latitude 51° North and Longitude 51° East, over Kazakhstan. More you go towards the north, more the zodiacal light gets tilted, but on the September Equinox, this the best tilt possible get at any latitude before dawn. The darker your sky, the better your chances of seeing it, but it is always quite dark outside the plane window at night, if you are above clouds. People used to think zodiacal light originated somehow from phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere, but today we understand it as sunlight reflecting off dust grains that circle the Sun in the inner solar system. The zodiacal light is a solar system phenomenon. In this image you can see the bright triangular light in the zodiac constellations of Leo and Cancer. Venus shines brightly on the ecliptic.