page_title: Gegenschein
hierarchical_section_title: Gegenschein
caption_attribution_description: English: Gegenschein is a faint brightening of the night sky in the region of the ecliptic directly opposite the Sun, caused by the reflection of sunlight by interplanetary dust in the Solar System. The Gegenschein is seen in this image as a band running diagonally from the top left to lower right. The image was obtained by Yuri Beletsky in October 2007 using a digital camera equipped with a 10-mm wide-angle lens and installed on a portable equatorial mount. The total exposure time was about 45 min. The weather conditions during the observations were excellent: the sky transparency was close to perfect, which allowed Yuri to capture very faint details of the Gegenschein and reveal its fine structure.
context_page_description: Gegenschein is a faintly bright spot in the night sky centered at the antisolar point. The backscatter of sunlight by interplanetary dust causes this optical phenomenon, also called counterglow.
context_section_description: Gegenschein (/ˈɡeɪɡənˌʃaɪn/; German: [ˈɡeːɡənʃaɪn]; lit. 'countershine') is a faintly bright spot in the night sky centered at the antisolar point. The backscatter of sunlight by interplanetary dust causes this optical phenomenon, also called counterglow.
caption: The gegenschein appears in this image as a bright spot on the diagonal band (running top left to lower right) above the Very Large Telescope. (The Andromeda Galaxy and Pleiades are prominent in the lower half of the image.)
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