This week's sky
Meteor activity remains low during March. The only shower is a minor one deep in the southern sky. Still, you might see fine meteor dust in the form of the zodiacal light. This faint glow shows up best from dark observing sites during the moonless evenings after mid-March. Well after the Sun sets, twilight's last gleaming will give way to a lingering cone-shaped glow - the zodiacal light. The glow extends up through Aries and into Taurus.
The zodiacal light represents sunlight reflecting off dust particles concentrated along the ecliptic, the plane of our solar system. Because the dust lies in the ecliptic plane, the glow follows the constellations of the zodiac (hence the name). The glow shows up best when the ecliptic makes a steep angle to the horizon. In the Northern Hemisphere, this happens on evenings in early spring.
Mar
13