Caption

This photo shows a phenomenon known as zodiacal light. At lower left, a glowing patch extends to the upper right in the direction of Jupiter, the bright object left of center. Zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting off tiny dust particles in the inner solar system—the disintegrated remains of comets and asteroids. Attempts to measure how dark space is using telescopes like Hubble have been thwarted by this ambient glow.

As a result, astronomers relied on NASA’s distant New Horizons spacecraft to observe the sky free from zodiacal light. The faint background they measured is the equivalent of seeing a neighbor’s refrigerator light from a mile away.

This very wide, multi-frame panorama was taken in October 2014 at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeast Arizona. The zodiacal light is at left, with the northern Milky Way to the right. The Orion constellation is at top right. Jupiter is the brighter object left of center, while a similarly bright object to the right (below Orion) is Sirius. M44 (the Praesepe Cluster) is just above Jupiter. On the horizon, a yellow glow marks the location of the nearby town of Chinle, Arizona.