zodiacal light

plural zodiacal lights

1. astronomyA soft glow of white light seen in the sky along the ecliptic in an elongated triangular form with its base being on the horizon, particularly in the tropics.

   Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance of the evening star.

   1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Thing in the Forest”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC, pages 81–82

   1 more example

   I also, this morning gave attention to the stars as seen through the Zodiacal Light, and found, even to 4ʰ 30ᵐ, when the effulgent Light below the zigzag lines is very strong, that with the naked eye I could readily make out stars of the 6th magnitude within the effulgent Light; [...]

   1856, George Jones, “No. 271. December 30th, 1854: Morning.”, in Observations on the Zodiacal Light, from April 2, 1853, to April 22, 1855, Made Chiefly on Board the United States Steam-Frigate Mississippi, during Her Late Cruise in Eastern Seas, and Her Voyage Homeward: With Conclusions from the Data thus Obtained (Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, […]; III; 33d Congress, 2d Session, Senate Ex. Doc. no. 79), Washington, D.C.: Beverley Tucker, senate printer, →OCLC, page 542