Observable Phenomena of The Interplanetary Medium
The interplanetary medium is responsible for several effects which can be seen from earth. The Zodiacal light is a broad band of faint light sometimes seen after sunset and before sunrise, stretched along the ecliptic and brightest near the horizon. It is caused by sunlight scattering off dust particles in the interplanetary medium between the Earth and the Sun.
A similar effect is the Gegenschein, which is seen directly opposite to the sun's position in the sky. It is much fainter than the Zodiacal light, and is caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles outside the Earth's orbit.
Read more about this topic: Interplanetary Medium
Famous quotes containing the words observable, phenomena and/or medium:
“To develop an empiricist account of science is to depict it as involving a search for truth only about the empirical world, about what is actual and observable.... It must involve throughout a resolute rejection of the demand for an explanation of the regularities in the observable course of nature, by means of truths concerning a reality beyond what is actual and observable, as a demand which plays no role in the scientific enterprise.”
—Bas Van Fraassen (b. 1941)
“All the phenomena which surround him are simple and grand, and there is something impressive, even majestic, in the very motion he causes, which will naturally be communicated to his own character, and he feels the slow, irresistible movement under him with pride, as if it were his own energy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“A healthy soul stands united with the Just and the True, as the magnet arranges itself with the pole, so that he stands to all beholders like a transparent object betwixt them and the sun, and whoso journeys towards the sun, journeys towards that person. He is thus the medium of the highest influence to all who are not on the same level.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)