Zodiac light is visible in the week

From today until the end of the week, people in Vietnam will have the opportunity to admire the clear triangular light blocks on the horizon.

National Geographic affirmed that people in the northern hemisphere, including Vietnam, could observe the zodiac light easily this week.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Phuong, member of the Vietnam Astronomical and Space Association, said that the zodiac light is a phenomenon of a dimly lit triangular area appearing in the eastern horizon before sunrise or the western horizon. Immediately after the sun set, a dimly lit area of ​​' triangle price '. The closer it is to the sun, the brighter it is.

Zodiac light in Africa in July this year.
(Photo: National Geographic).

Because the zodiac light appears near the time of sunset, many people will mistakenly believe it is the sunset light of the sun. So it is also called ' fake sunset '.

According to Mr. Phuong, the material that makes up the zodiac light phenomenon is very small dust particles in the disk plane of the solar system , including the ' corpses ' of comets, scattering and reflecting light. Bright of the Sun.

The Earth and other celestial bodies in the solar system are all orbiting the sun and seem to be in a disk-shaped plane with the center of the sun. So from the earth we will see the projection of this disk like a streak across the sky. Therefore, when dust particles are scattered, or reflected, sunlight, we will have the opportunity to see a dim light strip along the zodiac line, called the zodiac light strip.

Because the zodiac light is quite dim, we can only see it before sunrise and immediately after sunset.

In the northern hemisphere, the zodiac light appears most clearly in the early morning before sunrise during the period from mid-August to mid-October. At this time the angle created by the zodiac and the horizon is the largest. If we want to watch at dusk, we should observe immediately after sunset in the period between February and April. It is quite fast at night so we can observe easily.

For the southern hemisphere, the situation goes against the northern hemisphere.

Vietnam is located near the equator so the zodiac line always appears quite high compared to the horizon. So we can always see the zodiac light. However, in order to be able to see it we have to choose a favorable observation area. These are places far away from city lights or industrial zones, the view is not obstructed by tall buildings or mountains. In addition, we can only observe easily on moonless nights.