zodiacal light

American  

noun

1. a luminous tract in the sky, seen in the west after sunset or in the east before sunrise and thought to be the light reflected from a cloud of meteoric matter revolving round the sun.

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zodiacal light British  

noun

1. a very faint cone of light in the sky, visible in the east just before sunrise and in the west just after sunset. It is probably due to the reflection of sunlight from cosmic dust in the plane of the ecliptic

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zodiacal light Scientific  

/ zō-dī′ə-kəl /

1. A faint hazy cone of light, often visible in the west just after sunset or in the east just before sunrise, and elongated in the direction of the ecliptic on each side of the Sun. It is apparently caused by the reflection of sunlight from meteoric particles in the plane of the ecliptic.

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Etymology

Origin of zodiacal light

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

Under especially dark skies, sunlight scattered by this dust can be seen shortly after sunset or before sunrise as a faint glow called zodiacal light.

From Science Daily • Dec. 6, 2025

Still, severe breakdown has reduced that dust in size so much that it now scatters sunlight efficiently, causing the faint glow in the night sky known as the "zodiacal light."

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024

This is the "zodiacal light," which astronomers believe is sunlight reflected from dust particles revolving around the sun like microscopic planets.

From Time Magazine Archive

On a moonless spring night residents of northern states can see a concentration of cosmic radiation as a wedge of zodiacal light at the western horizon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Over the sun's burial place stood the zodiacal light, a red grave pyramid, flaming unmoved up into the silent deep of blue.

From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul