Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.10049
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    Diagrams of the zodiacal light in relation to the Earth’s orbit

    Date
    1848
    Creator
    Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819 - 1900, British) , Astronomer
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (drawing): 233mm
    width (drawing): 188mm
    Subject
    Description
    Four diagrams of the appearance of the zodiacal light. Each view is captioned: Figure 1 “Plan of the zodiacal light & the Earth’s orbit.” Figure 2 “Sectional view of th same, as seen from the nodes of the Sun’s equator 7 Earth’s orbit.” Figure 3 “Sectional view of the zodiacal light, as seen from a point in the Earth’s orbit , 90 degrees from its nodes with the Sun’s equator”. Figure 4. “Appearance which should be seen from the Earth, if the zodiacal light were in the form of a ring, instead of a lenticular body.”

    Illustration from the unpublished paper "Attempt to apply instrumental measurement to the zodiacal light...”, by Charles Piazzi Smyth. The paper was written or completed on 25 March 1848 and received by the Royal Society on 13 April. It was eventually withdrawn on 2 November 1848.

    Inscribed in ink: “Diagrams representing the Zodiacal Light, and the Earth’s Orbit, viewed in Plan & Section. Plate 6 p.9”.
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