Starwatch: zodiacal light glows faintly in the dark sky

Our solar system is littered with dust and late March is a good time to see it; but it’s only visible from a truly dark, rural sky. It’s called the zodiacal light and the dust that creates it comes primarily from the tails of comets, and colliding asteroids. Some may even be left over from the formation of the planets 4.6bn years ago. On dark, moonless nights, it can be seen as a faint triangular-shaped glow reaching up into the sky.

Mid-March is particularly good for it because, from northern latitudes, the zodiacal light will point upwards from the western horizon in the evening sky. It hugs the ecliptic, which is the plane of the planets. The chart shows the view looking west from London, UK, on the evening of 23 March. Venus will guide your eye to the correct portion of the sky in which to search.

From the southern hemisphere, the zodiacal light is better seen at this time of year looking east in the pre-dawn sky.