Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Gegenschein (Picture of the Day: 12/6/12)

Gegenschein over Chile. Source

The night is not darkest when the sun is directly beneath your feet. The strange, dim light seen here will appear when the sun is in such a location, making the night bright (well, not very bright at all, but still). This effect is known as the gegenschein. This picture is of the gegenschein over Chile. It turns out that the sun's light will reflect off of interplanetary dust particles to create this effect. The gegenschein is extremely dim, so this picture is particularly rare. 

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