The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1876-05-11

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There Is now visible upon our western
heavens. afsef sunset. strange illamina-
ton known IS the tzodiaeal Light
which generally makes Il appearance 81
thls season of the year This phenome-
non has agtraet8d the attention Of aatron-
6mers from time immemorial, but hes
never been satisfactorily explained. The
form 81 Che zodiacsl light Il that Of 9
cone or pyramid, with iii base directed
towards the SUN and its axis nearly ia
the plane Of the ecliptic. rs light y
like that Of the milky way, 81 that Of
che faint twilight, thin enough 70 lei the
stars be seen through IL and seems To
Surround the sun IN the form Of lens,
the plane 81 which Is nearly coincident
with that of the sun's equator. The ap.
parent angular distance Of its yertex
from The sun varies from forty 10 ninety
degrees, and the breadth of It's base, per-
pendicular to its axis, from eight % thir-
IN degrees. IT ID supposed 10 extend bel
yond the orbit Of Mercury, and even as
fir as that Of Venus, but never SO far as
the orbit Of The earth. This phenomenon
was noticed BIZ Prof Childrey III The
year 1860, but IT was afterwards more
particularly observed and described BY
Che celebrated astronomer, Prof. Cassini,
ii the spring Of 1853. Prof ]. ID. Steele
gives the following description Of the
zodiacal light in his little book entitled
" Fourteen Weeks III Astronomy !"
II We watch the western horizon in
March Or April, just after sunset, We
win sometimes Zee the short twilight ii
chat season illuminated By faint, trem-
ulous light, of conical shape, flashing
upward often IS high as the pleiades. Ia
September and October at early dawn
the same appearance can be detected
near the eastern horizon. The light can
be seen in this latitude only Oh the most
favorable evenings, when The sky is clear
and the moon absent. Even then it vii
be frequently COMPOUNDED with the milky
way Of auroral lights. at the base it Is
Of reddish hue, where it is SO brigh as
frequently To efface the smaller stars.
ia tropical regions the zodiacal light il
perpetual, and shines with 4 brilliancy
sufficient, says Humboldt, 10 cast sem
sible glow on the other parts Of the
heavens Various opinions have been
BY astronomers as to the
cause of this remarkable phenomenon;
but as it always accompanies the sun, it |
: known not to be Of terrestrial origin.
The commonly received opinion il, that
y ii caused BY a faint, cloud-like ring,
perhaps metoric zone, that surrounds |
The sun, and only becomes visible to us
when the sun himself is below the hori-
ION. Other astronomers maintain that
Iince 1t has been seen iii tropical regions
n the east and west simultaneously, it /
an be explained only On the theory Of
.Rebulous ring that surrounds the earth
within the orbit of the moon But the
heory il now generally accepted BY as
ronomera that this phenomenon is
aussd by small metoric bodies which the
arth y constantly encOuntering, and
which, ION entering Oaratmosphere, become
shooting stars" Too ANAL to Be seen
even with the telescope, they
ombine in countless numbers, according
3 this theory, toreaecV to our eyes the
TRANCE light In question, borrowing ii
rom the sum, around which they am re-