Belt of Venus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
"Venus's girdle" redirects here. For the marine lifeform, see Ctenophora.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please
help improve this article by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Belt of
Venus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September
2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The full Moon seen through the Belt of Venus. Note that the full Moon is near the centre
of the field of view, which means that the Sun must be behind the camera.

The Belt of Venus (also called Venus's Girdle, the antitwilight arch,

or antitwilight[1]) is an atmospheric phenomenon visible shortly before sunrise or
after sunset, during civil twilight. It is a pinkish glow that surrounds the observer,
extending roughly 10–20° above the horizon.
In a way, the Belt of Venus is actually alpenglow visible near the horizon during
twilight, above the antisolar point. Like alpenglow, the backscatter of
reddened sunlight also creates the Belt of Venus. Unlike alpenglow, the
sunlight scattered by fine particulates that cause the rosy arch of the Belt shines high
in the atmosphere and lasts for a while after sunset or before sunrise.
As twilight progresses, the arch is separated from the horizon by the dark band
of Earth's shadow, or "twilight wedge". The pinkish glow is due to the Rayleigh
scattering of light from the rising or setting Sun, which is then backscattered by
particulates. A similar effect can be seen on a "blood moon" during a total lunar
eclipse. The zodiacal light and gegenschein, which are caused by the diffuse
reflection of sunlight from interplanetary dust in the Solar System, are also similar
phenomena.
The Belt of Venus can be observed as having a vivider pink color during the winter
months, as opposed to the summer months, when it appears faded and dim above
the yellowish-orange band near the horizon. [citation needed]
The name of the phenomenon alludes to the cestus, a girdle or breast-band, of the
Ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite, customarily equated with the Roman
goddess Venus. Since the greatest elongation (angular separation between the Sun
and a Solar System body) of Venus is only 45–48°, the inferior planet never appears
 in the opposite of the Sun's direction (180° difference in ecliptic longitude) from Earth
and is thus never located in the Belt of Venus.

Contents

 1Gallery
 2See also
 3References
 4External links

Gallery[edit]


ALMA and Chajnantor in twilight. Lying between the two groups of antennas

are Earth's shadow and the Belt of Venus phenomena.[2]
 

A full Moon rising, seen through the Belt of Venus and from near Linz, Austria
 

The Belt of Venus seen from Lüderitz Bay in Namibia (2017)

 
 

The Belt of Venus seen from a airplane at an altitude of 42,000 ft (13,000 m)

 

The Belt of Venus seen over a lake in Seattle, Washington