The NASA released on September 19, 2026, an impressive image of zodiacal light, also known as false dawn, captured in the Hanle dark sky reserve in Ladakh, India.
This photograph was taken at approximately 4,500 meters altitude, in a location renowned for astronomical observation and astrophotography. Zodiacal light appears as a diffuse luminous band in the night sky, visible just before the start of astronomical dawn.
In this image, the planet Jupiter shines within the zodiacal glow near the eastern horizon, while the zodiacal band extends toward the zenith where the open cluster M44 and the planet Mars, slightly tinged with yellow, can be spotted.
According to observations from NASA’s Juno probe, Mars is a source of interplanetary dust that scatters sunlight, thereby contributing to the creation of this zodiacal light visible from Earth.
Update, Sep 23, 2026, 00:26 (Dubai time, UTC+4): Added a new image published by NASA showing a triple solar occultation by an airplane and the International Space Station, taken in June in the Czech Republic.
Update, Sep 23, 2026, 09:28 (Dubai time, UTC+4): Added new information about the discovery of a lunar crater formed in 2024, enriching NASA’s space coverage without altering the main content on zodiacal light.