Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A faint glowing spot or region in the sky, occasionally visible exactly opposite the position of the sun, consisting of sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust particles.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The large, faintly luminous patch on the ecliptic opposite to the sun, supposed to be apart of the zodiacal light.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A faint patch of light in the night sky that appears opposite the sun; a reflection of sunlight by micrometeoric material in space.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun astronomy A faint
brightening of the nightsky in the region of the ecliptic directlyopposite theSun .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a faint spot of light in the night sky that appears directly opposite the position of the sun; a reflection of sunlight by micrometeoric material in space
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[German : gegen, against (from Middle High German, from Old High German gegin) + Schein, light (from Middle High German schīn, from Old High German scīn, from scīnan, to shine).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
German Gegenschein ("counter-shine").
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Examples
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When Sam turned away from the floor a gegenschein floated in her exhausted eyes.
Sam and the Planets Josh Cook 2011
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This is the gegenschein, German for "counter-shine."
Want to see better? We'd have to turn out the lights. Ben Harder 2010
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Two to look for: the gegenschein and zodiacal light.
Want to see better? We'd have to turn out the lights. Ben Harder 2010
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Make 36 photographs of gegenschein, the faint nebulosity which appears opposite the Sun in certain conditions.
Space Michener, James 1982
reesetee commented on the word gegenschein
The glow of the Sun in the opposite direction from the sun's location. At night, the glow is known as the gegenschein (German for "counter glow"), and can be seen as a faint glow in an extremely dark sky. It is actually sunlight backscattered off small dust particles. During daytime, a phenomenon similar to the gegenschien called the glory can be seen from an airplane in clouds opposite the Sun. (From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, June 25, 1999.)
May 8, 2007
fbharjo commented on the word gegenschein
a sunbeam's counter-shadow
June 11, 2012
qms commented on the word gegenschein
Penelope is a mystic feline,
And sees things only she can divine.
By day she's in thrall
To shapes in the wall,
At night to the glow of gegenschein.
August 6, 2014