Okay, I’m a neophyte when it comes to astronomy. If you were at a really dark site, could you see that many stars with the naked eye, or is it just due to a long exposure time with a good camera? Can you actually see galaxies without the aid of binoculars or a telescope? Unfortunately for me, I live in Colorado Springs which has to have some of the worst light pollution ever.

I’ve never seen that before, even at Mauna Kea. Is it even possible to see it with the naked eye, i.e. without a long exposure image from a camera?

You can. The zodiacal light is brightest close to the Sun, and from a dark site the bright parts are actually not too hard to see shortly after it gets genuinely dark. It’s much bigger than most people realize — it looks a little like a large wedge of twilight sticking up into the sky along the ecliptic — so it can be hard to recognize for what it really is.

The light rapidly gets fainter farther from the Sun, and soon becomes invisible or at best very faint. The photo in BA’s article shows the “gegenschein”, which is a slight brightening of the zodiacal light directly opposite the Sun. It’s very faint indeed and you won’t see it unless it’s very dark (no Moon, no nearby city lights). Even bright constellations in the area can interfere. I’ve had my best luck in early fall and late winter (northern hemisphere) when the anti-solar point is fairly high up, and the background sky is pretty empty.

Crux Australis: Congratulations! Zodiacal light actually goes all the way around the ecliptic, but it’s so faint that most people never see it like that. I’ve only seen it once, and I’ve been to plenty of dark sites. If you are ever fortunate enough to see the whole thing, not just the bits closest to the Sun, it’s pretty amazing: very faint, but similar in width to the Milky Way, and spanning the entire sky. It’s one of the largest distinct “objects” you can see, in fact.

These pictures have inspired me to dig out those I took and put them up on my blog tonight.

This was matched a few hours later by going back up on to the deck to view the night sky – stunning. They had the laser running for the adaptive optics on one of the VLT units which added to the effect. A wonderful night of naked eye observing.

By the way the next James Bond film has just finished shooting some scenes at Paranal, not of the telescope units but of the Residence. It appears as the archetypal Bond baddie lair. Can’t wait to see what it looks like on the big screen.

Wow! They must have had Peter Jackson do the effects for this eruption!

- Jack